PC’s Geoff McDermott falls out of bounds after putting up a shot during the first half of yesterday’s Big East game at The Dunk. Coming up with the rebound was the Friars’ Brian McKenzie.

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The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE — The last day of a turbulent, frustrating 2008 turned out great for the Providence College men’s basketball team. Now it’s time to see what the New Year brings.

The Friars put ’08 in the past by shaking off yet another slow start and then overwhelming a battered and bruising St. John’s squad, 75-54, in the Big East opener for both clubs. A crowd of 3,037 braved the windy snowstorm to enjoy the action at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

A little less than a year ago, the Friars played a similar Red Storm team and limped home from Queens after a painful two-point defeat. That’s a feeling that the players want no part of in this new era of PC basketball, led by first-year coach Keno Davis. With the win, PC improves to 9-4 overall and Davis joined Gordie Chiesa and Rick Barnes as the only Friar coaches ever to win their opening Big East game.

PC is now 7-23 in conference openers all-time and will shoot for 2-0 in the conference Saturday against DePaul.

“We have a very good opportunity to start the conference off with two good wins,” said Sharaud Curry, the junior guard who looked as strong as he has all season on his way to 16 points and 8 assists. “We want to take it from here and just continue to build.”

Davis agreed. He said his veteran team “needs to be able to play pressure-free,” and a good start to Big East play can help the cause.

“It’s nice to be at the top of the conference,” Davis said. “Sometimes you get poor starts in your conference play, and you’re always kind of fighting, and you have to go on the road and try to win a game at UConn or Syracuse just to get back. To be able to start at the top is a nice feeling.”

Yesterday’s opening four minutes certainly didn’t bring any nice feelings for Davis or his team. St. John’s, which lost its third straight and is also 9-4, scored the opening 11 points and forced a Davis time out after 3:05. The Red Storm was quicker to the ball, more aggressive and — most importantly — made some shots during the start.

But the Friars quickly settled down. They had worked on a tight, zone defense in preparation for the game and that look not only slowed the Storm’s path, but it also began to create a rash of turnovers. The result was a 20-6 counter-punch that gave PC a 20-17 lead. Two Curry drives and a nice dish to Jon Kale ended the run. After making four of its first eight shots, the Storm finished the half 7-of-20 with 13 messy turnovers.

“I was ready to go to another defense if St. John’s went on a run or made a few 3-point shots in a row, but I think you saw how strong our zone defense is,” said Davis. “We know we have to keep improving our man defense as we go along because we can’t just rely on one defense, but that was good to see.”

PC will need a balanced attack in any game the rest of the way and that was in evidence yesterday. Besides Curry’s strong outing, Randall Hanke played his best game of the season. He finished with 17 points and he also blocked three first-half shots. Marshon Brooks added 15 points and Kale finished with 10.

The Friars also hit six 3-point shots, with five different players doing the honors. Led by Hanke and Brooks, PC’s bench outscored the Red Storm’s, 32-0.

“We’ve been talking about having eight starters, and that’s going to help us down the stretch to maybe withstand some of the runs teams have,” said Davis. “Even if it’s in the first four or five minutes, when our bench comes in we may not be the best team after our first four or five guys, but we might have a better eight than some of the teams that we play this year.”

PC’s first-half lead peaked at 10 points, and the Friars led, 33-25, at the break. St. John’s hung around for most of the second half and trailed, 57-47, with 6:41 to play. But a three-point play by Hanke, a Weyinmi Efejuku 3-pointer and a wing jumper from Curry pushed the lead to an insurmountable 65-47.

A foot injury that sidelined Curry all of last season was the key reason for PC’s struggles in Tim Welsh’s final season as coach. Now Curry feels strong and the Friars have a chance to go to 2-0 in league play if they can beat DePaul Saturday.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good the last few weeks,” said Curry. “With the Big East here, I just had to pick up my energy and my intensity level. Today, I was able to do that and just try to instill that in the rest of the guys.”

kmcnamar@projo.com