Julie Jacobson, Associated Press Notre Dame's Russell Carter attempts a baseline pass around St. John's defender Lamont Hamilton in the first half last night at Madison Square Garden. Click photo for larger image.

Larry Wright hit a 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds to play to give St. John's a 71-68 victory against No. 22 Notre Dame last night, the Red Storm's second consecutive last-minute win at Madison Square Garden.

Lamont Hamilton scored all of his 23 points in the first half for St. John's (12-8, 3-4 Big East), which beat Syracuse, 64-60, Sunday on two late 3-pointers by Avery Patterson.

Notre Dame (16-4, 4-3) made the score 68-68 with 40 seconds to go on the second of two free throws by Colin Falls.

The Red Storm called a timeout with 36 seconds left, and they ran the shot clock down just under 10 seconds before passing the ball to Wright in the right corner.

The freshman reserve buried his third 3 of the game in four attempts.

Notre Dame rushed the ball down court and Russell Carter's 3-point attempt from about 28 feet bounced off the rim and the Fighting Irish dropped to 0-3 on the road in the conference.

Carter finished with a career-high 32 points for Notre Dame. He scored all the points in the Irish's 11-0 run to open the second half.

Eugene Lawrence had 13 points and seven assists for St. John's, which shot 59.3 percent from the field in taking a 49-41 halftime lead. The Red Storm missed its first 10 shots of the second half before Wright, who finished with 11 points, hit a 3-pointer 6:18 in.

Falls had 16 points for Notre Dame but he was 1 for 6 from 3-point range in the second half after going 4 for 6 in the opening 20 minutes.

As Hamilton couldn't score in the second half, Anthony Mason Jr. scored seven of his nine points in a one-minute span, the last of them was a jumper with 10:07 to play that gave the Red Storm a 61-59 lead.

The Red Storm's impressive first-half shooting was surprising considering it came into the game 14th in the 16-team league at 41.8 percent. St. John's finished at 43.9 percent (25 for 57).

Notre Dame came in fourth in the league at 48.6 percent and finished 22 for 62 (35.5 percent).

The two wins came after a four-game losing streak for St. John's, which next plays at No. 9 Pitt Saturday.

Men's Top 25

Korvotney Barber scored 18 points and Frank Tolbert added 17 to lead Auburn to an 81-57 upset of visiting No. 12 Alabama. ... Rich McBride scored 15 points to lead Illinois to a 51-43 victory against visiting No. 23 Indiana last night. ... Zabian Dowdell scored a career high 30 points to help No. 24 Virginia Tech beat host Miami, 92-85. ... Dan Nwaelele scored 13 points and the 16th-ranked Air Force Falcons used sharp shooting and a stifling defense to cruise past TCU, 72-39, for their 27th consecutive home win.

District

Despite outrebounding Notre Dame College (12-10), 39-12, Seton Hill (10-7) had to pull out a 77-75 win in overtime. The visiting Griffins, who were led by Marcus Thompson's 18 points, outscored the Blue Falcons, 5-3, in the overtime for the victory.

Note

Notre Dame point guard Kyle McAlarney was suspended from school for this semester for his arrest last month on a marijuana possession charge, his mother said yesterday.