With his left hand, St. John’s forward Amir Garrett jammed in a follow-up dunk off a Sir’Dominic Pointer miss in the first half last night, then smacked his chest.

St. John’s has gotten strong freshman performances this season from D’Angelo Harrison and Moe Harkless, and against UCLA this past Saturday, it received solid contributions from fellow freshmen Pointer and Phil Greene. It was Garrett who joined in last night at Carnesecca Arena, delivering his finest effort yet in the Red Storm’s 79-72 win over DePaul.

The 6-foot-6 freshman forward scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds while also adding a steal and a block.

In his first nine games this season, Garrett averaged 4.2 points. In his last nine, he’s averaging 9.4.

“His arrow’s been pointing forward,” assistant coach Mike Dunlap said.

Garrett also was a bit fueled by what happened prior to tip-off. Before the game, the season’s final one at Carnesecca, the Red Storm honored Boris Brakalov, the squad’s only senior. Garrett was peeved that the DePaul players began warming up on the court before the ceremony had completely wrapped up.

“I was a little mad because they walked on the court while we were still doing the ceremony,” Garrett said. “But things happen.”

Harrison, who tore up DePaul in the teams’ first meeting this year with 29 points, was excellent again last night, pouring in a game-high 23. He also finished with five rebounds, six assists and no turnovers.

“It’s two games in a row with balanced scoring,” Harrison said. “They can’t focus on anybody in particular when we’re playing like this.”