The sweating can stop — for now.
St. John's took another step away from the NCAA Tournament bubble with an important 58-57 win over Xavier on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, completing a season sweep of the Musketeers after Myles Davis' runner in the final seconds didn't fall.
Winning for the fifth time in the past six games and for the fifth straight time at home, St. John's (19-9, 8-7) is now set up better than it ever could have hoped for after losing five of its first seven conference games, looking likely to end its three-year NCAA Tournament drought with three games remaining in the regular season.
As usual, it was the seniors who secured St. John's latest win, with D'Angelo Harrison and Sir'Dominic Pointer scoring 39 points combined to beat Xavier (18-11, 8-8), which had won four of its previous five games.
St. John's appeared completely unaware of the game's implications during an atrocious start, falling behind 11-0 while mimicking the poor start at Xavier just 10 days prior. But as in last weekend's win, the Red Storm immediately rebounded, with Chris Obekpa coming off the bench and immediately changing the dynamic, altering every shot the Musketeers dared to attempt inside, while registering three blocks and five steals in the first half. He looked as healthy as he has since spraining his ankle a few weeks ago.
Suddenly, Xavier was rattled, missing 15 of its next 16 shots while struggling to complete a pass or string two dribbles together, resulting in 14 momentum-swinging, first-half turnovers.
While Obekpa sparked the defense, Pointer — who finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, six blocks and four steals — carried an offense without a hint of hope, hitting five of his first six shots while his teammates missed 14 of their first 17. Led by Pointer's 13 first-half points, St. John's took a 28-20 halftime lead, while holding the Big East's highest-scoring team to its lowest point total in a half this season.
St. John's led by 10 at the beginning of the second half, but Xavier unexpectedly awoke, as Jalen Reynolds got going on the inside. The Musketeers took a 35-30 lead with a 15-0 run, during which the Red Storm missed their first six free throws of the half.
The Red Storm regained the lead, 45-43, on a 3-pointer by Harrison (20 points) with 6:30 remaining, as the teams traded leads multiple times. Though St. John's offense was so ugly for much of the night, the Red Storm strung together six straight possessions with points to take a 58-53 lead with 1:45 remaining, but free throws from Trevon Bluiett (who finished with 17 points) with 25.2 seconds left brought Xavier within one.
Xavier's Remy Abell then stripped Harrison from behind, causing panic in the Garden and allowing Davis to get a good look at a game-winning jumper, but like so many times this season, the ball bounced St. John's way.
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