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Senior swing Anthony Mason Jr. is out for the season with a torn tendon in his foot, and sophomore forward Justin Burrell suffered facial fractures during a collision with Evans at practice on Thursday. Burrell has been fitted for a face shield and could return for the team's game against Miami Dec. 27. Mason Jr. and Burrell combined to average 24.6 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Without them, Evans scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the Red Storm rolled over Marist, 65-44, in the Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. It was the seventh straight victory for St. John's (9-1), which is off to its best start since the 1990-91 season.

"I think we just got to learn to work through things like that [injuries] because things like that are going to happen," said Evans, a 6-foot-8 sophomore. "Good teams go through things like that. To separate yourself from a good team and a great team you have to showcase that you can play without your star players and I think we're showing that now."

Virginia Tech (7-4) downed Columbia 64-52 in the first game to advance to Sunday's championship game at approximately 2:30 p.m. The St. John's-Virginia Tech showdown is a rematch of last year's game won by the Hokies, 54-48. Marist (3-7) and Columbia (3-7) will face off in the consolation game at noon.

"We're looking forward to playing [Virginia Tech] and getting a little bit of revenge," Evans said. "We're going to have to bring our 'A' game if we want to beat them."

Paris Horne added 12 points for St. John's. Redshirt sophomore Rob Thomas, who started at the power forward spot in Burrell's absence, scored 11 and D.J. Kennedy posted a double-double of 11 points and 14 boards.

Thomas, a former New York City playground legend who tore his ACL in March 2007, said he's ready to fill the void left by Burrell. "I got no problem filling that void," he said. "I feel like it's a great opportunity. I have to thank God."

Ryan Schneider, a native of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., led the Red Foxes with 14 points and Javon Parris of Brooklyn added 10.

Marist missed its first 18 shots in the second half and made just 7-of-25 from the foul line.

"We just didn't make them, we didn't knock them down," said Marist coach Chuck Martin, a Bronx native who served as an assistant under Roberts for two years at St. John's.

Martin gave credit to ST. John's for taking on the personality of its coach.

"Obviously, they lost Justin Burrell and Anthony Mason a couple of weeks ago," Martin said. "Those guys are tough. They take on Norm's personality. They fight, they scrap."

Marist played without junior guard David Devezin, out with a foot injury, and is down to eight scholarship players.

"Without Dave, it's tough," Martin said. "He's a kid who played in the Big 12 at Texas A&M, so he understands this level. [Point guard] R.J. [Hall], he's a freshman and it's a lot of weight on his shoulders."

Marist's last lead came at 12-10 before St. John's rattled off 13 unanswered points to take a 23-12 lead it would never relinquish. It was 35-25 in favor of the Johnnies at half.

St. John's has won the event 14 times, most recently in 2004 and '05. In order to win again against a big, physical Virginia Tech team, St. John's will have to come strong again on Sunday.

VA. TECH DOWNS COLUMBIA

Sophomore guard Malcolm Delaney tied his career-high with 25 points to lead Virginia Tech into Saturday's title game against St. John's with a 64-52 victory over Columbia.

Columbia trailed by six points, 49-43, with 8:35 remaining, but the Hokies got a basket from Delaney and a 3-pointer from AD Vassallo (16 points) to push the lead back to 54-43.

Sophomore forward Jeff Allen added 13 points for Virginia Tech (7-4), which improved to 5-1 at the Garden under head coach Seth Greenberg.

"We were supposed to win that game," Greenberg said. "I guarantee you, we will play a lot better tomorrow. I was disappointed with the way we played. We just didn't play well."

Jason Miller scored 12 points and Joe Bova 10 for Columbia (3-6).

The Lions were without leading scorer Pat Foley, a junior guard averaging 13.4 points per game, and key reserve Asenso Ampim (7.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg), both out with foot injuries. Columbia coach Joe Jones said Foley had "a chance to be back in a couple weeks," while Ampim was a "day-to-day thing."

"We can't play guys in practice who are limping around," Jones said. "We're trying to get guys back and a week later guys are getting reinjured. We've got to let them sit out so they can get back close to 100 percent."

Still, Jones said he's optimistic about his team going forward. The Lions have five more non-conference games before opening Ivy League play Jan. 17 against Cornell.

"I think we're pretty good," Jones said. "I think we're a pretty good team. We're a very good defensive team and we're playing better defensively. I really like this team and I think this team has a chance to do something special."