St. John's Survives Xavier As Rick Passes Roy

 

Oziyah Sellers had this slam dunk after a fast break to pull St. John's within 69-66 with 8:00 remaining in the game. Photo by Jason Schott.

St. John's, just hours after coming in at No. 17 in both the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll, outlasted Xavier, 87-82, on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

This was the second time this season that St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino earned a win over his son, Richard, who's in his first year at helm of the Cincinnati-based school.

Madison Square Garden showcasing the matchup on Monday afternoon. Photo by Jason Schott.

That wasn't the only superlative for Rick, as he passed Roy Williams on the all-time coaches' list in wins, as this was his 904th career victory. He is now in sole possession of third place, behind only Jim Boeheim, who has 1,112, and Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski's 1,202.

St. John's has now won 10 in a row, giving them an overall record of 19-5, and they are 12-1 in Big East Conference play, tying them at the moment with Connecticut for the top spot. UConn's next game is at Butler on Wednesday.

Zuby Ejiofor led the way for St. John's, as he poured in 25 points on 8-11 from the field, and he was 9-13 from the free-throw line, with seven rebounds and five assists, with two steals.

Bryce Hopkins had a big night, with 19 points (5-11 FG, 9-11 FT), and he narrowly missed a double-double, as he had nine rebounds, along with two assists and two steals.

Dylan Darling had 16 points off the bench, as he shot 5-9 and made six free throws, along with five rebounds, four assists, and a steal.

This game was pretty neck-and-neck from the start, with St. John's only able to open up a 14-10 edge in the first five minutes. 

Bryce Hopkins slammed this one home to put St. John's ahead 19-17 at 10:20 of the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

Then, Xavier had a sudden 14-5 spurt, capped by a Jovan Milicevic layup, that put them up 24-19 at 8:28 of the first half.

St. John's would eventually re-take the lead, with their biggest one three, 42-39, on a Darling layup with 11 seconds left. 

That allowed Xavier's Isaiah Walker to bury a three-pointer as time expired to send the teams into the half tied at 42, the second straight game that has happened for St. John's. 

The second half continued the trend, with the teams trading baskets for the first five minutes of the second half, with St. John's ahead, 54-53, at 15:02. 

Dillon Mitchell taking a jumper that made it 48-46 St. John's at the 17:45 mark. Photo by Jason Schott.

Xavier responded with a 5-0 run, capped by a Milicevic three-pointer at 14:14 that made it 58-54, to which St. John's responded with a 6-2 run capped by a three from Sadiku Ibine Ayo to tie it at 60.

It went back to a five-point edge, 69-64, soon enough for Xavier, with 9:26 remaining, to which St. John's responded with a 10-2 run capped by a Darling layup with to make it 74-71 with 5:17 left.

St. John's was still up three (noteworthy in a game this tight) with 2:40 left before Xavier had another 5-0 burst to go up 78-76 on a Tre Carroll layup with 46 seconds left. 

In a fashion typical of St. John's, they earned the tying basket after notching three offensive rebounds before Sellers put in a layup with 16 seconds left to tie it at 78. Carroll missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer, so off to overtime they went.

In the overtime, after each team traded baskets, St. John's had a quick 5-0 run of their own to put away Xavier, and outscore them 9-4 in the extra five minutes.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "I'm real excited with the victory, but I'm more proud of my son, because in two games against (Xavier), he's totally outcoached us. We could not guard them. We could not stop them in their offense. They got us in bad switches. They executed. We did a good job in two games with the game on the line  by coming through defensively and making big plays in both games."

On Zuby Ejiofor: "I think Zuby is one off the leaders to be (National) Player of the Year, never mind the conference."

On coaching against Richard Pitino: "(I'm) happy with the victory, but I'm much more proud of my son. I thought my son, in the two times we played him, did things to really hurt our defense and did things to really hurt our press. I think he's an extremely brilliant young coach. I come away tonight not thinking about 904 (career wins), I come away being really proud of my son."

On the preparation for Xavier: "Our guys were ready to play tonight because they knew how difficult it was to play (Xavier). Certain teams hurt you, and they hurt us in one-on-one, (they) get us in switches."

On Bryce Hopkins: "We're very physical going to the basket with our front court. When the game was on the line, Bryce Hopkins won the game. He made big plays for us on the defensive end and he was outstanding in the final seven, eight minutes of the game."