ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Samford wanted to earn a little respect from the team that blew the Bulldogs out of last year's NCAA Tournament. It got a lot more than that.

The Alabama school and member of the Trans America Athletic Conference delivered the latest upset of a Top 25 team, beating St. John's 68-60 Friday night in the opening round of the CoSIDA Classic.

New Mexico played Dayton in the second game.

Samford (1-0) had its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament spoiled last March by St. John's 69-43 in the first round of the South Regional in Orlando.

Guard Will Daniel scored 17 points and led a second-half surge as St. John's (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) joined Connecticut, Ohio State and Duke as ranked teams beaten in their first games this season.

"They may have respected us at the end of that (NCAA tournament) game, but we didn't earn it," said Samford coach Jimmy Tillette. "You can demand attention, but you can't demand respect. That was our focus tonight. I hope we earned it."

St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said the Bulldogs didn't have to.

"At least now you know we weren't lying when we said Samford was good," Jarvis said. "We made a lot of bad decisions and took a lot of bad shots and we paid the price."

Daniel and Marc Salyers combined for 19 points over an eight-minute stretch in the second half that secured the upset. Daniel scored eight points in a 66-second span.

St. John's got 19 points from guard Bootsy Thornton and 14 from Lavor Postell. But the Red Storm hit just 14 of 44 shots in the second half and shot 34 percent for the game.

"You have to find the hot shooter and do the mental things to win the game and we didn't do those," Jarvis said.

Samford shot only 3-for-17 on 3-pointers in the first half, but still led 31-29. An 8-0 run by St. John's early in the second half gave the Red Storm a 40-36 lead with 14:23 left.

The Red Storm's run was helped by St. John's decision to change from a man to zone defense. That forced several Samford turnovers, but the Bulldogs adjusted quickly.

Samford's Mario Lopez hit a 3-pointer and Daniel hit two 3s and a layup around a layup by Thornton for a 47-42 lead.

"It was a combination of us getting tired and Samford making adjustments," Jarvis said. "I thought the crucial point was them hitting a pair of 3s."

St. John's got within a point twice, the last time at 51-50 on a baseline jumper by Anthony Glover with 6:00 remaining.

The Bulldogs then outscored the Red Storm 11-2, with Daniel starting the run with a 3-pointer. Salyers scored four points, Reed Rawlings scored off an offensive rebound and Lopez hit a pair of free throws for a 60- 52 lead with 48 seconds left.

St. John's got only one field goal in that stretch.

Rawlings scored 14 points and Jessie scored 10.

"I'm excited more than surprised," Rawlings said. "I knew we were going to have a chance. They killed us last year and we came into the game humble."

Samford, which ranked third nationally in 3-pointers made last season, shot 8-for-29 in the game, but hit 52 percent overall in the second half.