Win No. 900 for Rick Pitino came in as dramatic fashion possible.
In his first attempt for the milestone victory, his son, Richard Pitino, and Xavier nearly pulled the upset against the Red Storm behind a strong bridge that ended the first half and started the second half.
However, the Johnnies eventually escaped with the victory, 88-83.
After trailing by 16 points, 55-39, early in the second half, St. John’s (15-5, 8-1 Big East) used a 16-1 run to get within a point of the Musketeers before Tre Carroll scored 11 straight points, including a 3-pointer over Dillon Mitchell, to push the Xavier advantage to eight, 66-53.
Bryce Hopkins gave the Storm its first lead since 24-23 on an old-fashioned three-point play with 7:11 remaining that marked seven straight points for the Johnnies since Carroll was pulled from the game with 9:09 left.
Despite the Red Storm’s best efforts to pull away, Carroll would not let Xavier go quietly with a 3-pointer that made it a two-point game with 2:19 left as Malik Messina-Moore tied things with 1:35 remaining after a Hopkins missed layup.
Xavier (11-9, 3-6 Big East) retook the lead, 82-81, on a layup and free throw – which fouled out Zuby Ejiofor – from Filip Borovicanin with 1:12 left but Dylan Darling saved the day for the Johnnies on a 3-pointer with 53.2 seconds, which was followed by a second chance layup from Ruben Prey to seal the victory with 16.2 seconds.
After St. John’s built an early nine-point lead, 20-11, behind 11 points from Ian Jackson, the Johnnies looked like a completely different team. They were soft, missing layups, and had far too many defensive lapses that led right into the hands of Xavier’s dangerous offense.
It was the exact opposite of how the team finished against Seton Hall on Tuesday night.
It was as lost and lethargic the Johnnies have looked all season.
The Red Storm missed 13-of-15 shots over six-minute stretch as the Musketeers lead grew to as many as 14 points, 47-33, shooting 50-percent from the field and 3-point range.
St. John’s, riding a six-game winning streak, will return to action on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) inside Madison Square Garden against Butler (13-7, 4-5 Big East).