By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - Stan Heath was looking for production from his perimeter players and got it big-time Wednesday night.

Victor Rudd Jr. posted all of his game-high 24 points in the second half and Jawanza Poland added 16 to help the USF men's basketball team handle St. John's, 64-49, before a crowd of 3,145 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

USF (11-8, 4-2) has won four of its past five games and is off to its best start to Big East play in the program's history.

"It was really good to see kind of a one-two punch from those guys," Heath said. "Poland in the first half was dynamic. Rudd goes from a goose egg in the first half to 24 - that was pretty impressive. He did a great job of being aggressive and not just settling for threes."

Poland scored 12 of his 16 in the first half, while Rudd Jr. took over after the break. His 24 points were good enough to get him into fifth place all-time among USF scorers in a half.

"They kept telling me to be aggressive. They  kept telling me my shot was going to fall and it did in the second half," said Rudd, who made five 3-pointers and added seven rebounds.

Points were hard to come by for St. John's (8-10, 2-5) in its fifth loss in the past six games. The Red Storm went 2-for-13 from 3-point range and trailed by 21 with 4:53 remaining in the second half.

"It's hard living on the road when you can't make baskets. That was basically the issue," St. John's assistant coach Mike Dunlap said.

USF leads the Big East in scoring defense and added to its success, holding the Red Storm's bench to a total of six points and limiting St. John's to a season-low point total.

"I thought our defense came on and did a good job with recognizing some of their top players and holding them in check," Heath said. "Our defense is really a staple for us."

USF led, 29-22, in the first half and busted the game open right after the break. The Bulls started the second half on a 10-2 run with eight points coming from Rudd, who was 0-for-5 from the field in the first period.

"If I'm going to make shots I'm going to keep shooting it," Rudd said.

The Bulls' lead never dipped below 11 points the rest of the way before winning its second straight game. USF beat No. 24 Seton Hall, 56-55, on Friday night.

Like Rudd, Ron Anderson Jr. played well off the bench with nine points and eight rebounds to help USF improve to 10-1 at home this season.

"We did a good job today and now the key is to go on the road and get some wins," Heath said.

The Bulls' two-game road trip begins Sunday with a 2 p.m. test at DePaul.