St. John's can't complete another comeback as 10-game win streak snapped by Villanova

The St. John’s basketball team had to do what it has proven to be best at on Wednesday night – rally from a double-digit deficit on the road and it looked like the No. 9 Johnnies were up for the challenge again.

After Villanova took its largest lead of the game, 59-48 with 9:56 remaining, the Red Storm ripped off a 14-0 run in just 3:24 to lead by three, 62-59, but it couldn’t deliver a knockout punch.

The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run, sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Eric Dixon that gave ‘Nova a four-point lead, 68-64, but St. John’s wasn’t done. Simeon Wilcher put the Red Storm ahead, 71-70, with a 3-pointer with 27.9 left but Tyler Perkins, who finished 4-of-5 from 3-point range, responded with a triple of his own to but the Wildcats back in front with 9.0 seconds remaining.

St. John’s, after a timing review, went back to Wilcher to try and win the game but his 3-pointer was off target and the Red Storm had its 10-game winning streak snapped, losing 73-71.

“I knew it was off,” Wilcher said of the final attempt. “It was a clean look, I just didn’t make it.”

After making his first three shot attempts, Wilcher finished with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-9 from distance.

“Twice we didn’t block out and it cost us the game,” Rick Pitino said.

He was referring to Dixon’s 3-pointer off an offensive rebound that gave Villanova (15-10, 8-6 Big East) a 65-62 lead and another offensive rebound that led to free throw from Jordan Longino to push the Wildcat lead to four, 70-66.

“That’s been a weakness of ours and it finally bit us in the [backside].”

Villanova only had seven offensive rebounds in its victory that led to nine points but really flexed its muscles in the paint outscoring the Red Storm 24-16.

St. John’s (21-4, 12-2 Big East) relied heavily on the 3-point ball, shooting a season-high 37 attempts and making just 11 while the Wildcats connected on 11-of-24. Aaron Scott led the Red Storm with 22 points on 5-of-13 from beyond the arc.

“That wasn’t the reason we lost,” Pitino said of his team’s 3-point shooting. “People are going to give [3-point shots] to us, we have to have the confidence to take it.”

St. John’s trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, 32-22, but went into the halftime locker room on a 10-2 run in the final 3:49 while holding Villanova to just two points in the final 5:46.

The Red Storm opened the second half by scoring the first five points, taking a 37-34 lead, before Villanova began to pull away.

St. John’s was without key guard Deivon Smith, who suffered a neck injury in practice on Sunday.

The Johnnies return home on Sunday afternoon (3:00 p.m. ET, FS1) when hosting No. 24 Creighton (18-7, 11-3 Big East) at Madison Square Garden with the winner taking control of first place in the Big East regular season standings.