St. John’s coach Steve Lavin, who underwent prostate cancer surgery last month, missed the team’s first regular-season game of the year before returning to the bench two weeks ago. But Lavin’s stamina isn’t all the way back quite yet, and so after coaching games on back-to-back days last week, and then spending two days on the road recruiting, he informed school officials three hours before tip-off last night that he’d miss the Red Storm’s game against St. Francis at Carnesecca Arena. His team, however, cruised in his absence against a Terriers squad that made just one field goal in the first eleven minutes. D’Angelo Harrison came off the bench to lead the Johnnies with 21 points, including 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and the 63-48 victory improves the Red Storm’s record to 4-2. St. John’s next plays Northeastern on Saturday before traveling to Lexington for one of their toughest games of the year, against second-ranked Kentucky. [NYDN]