St. John's first three Big East championships were impressive, but everything went right.
There was little adversity. There was never a moment where I felt like the game was truly balanced. There was no time for Johnny's to follow suit.
Wednesday night was different.
On Wednesday night, St. John's took a punch and stumbled to the canvas after leading Providence 16-2.
And in that moment when the Garden didn't seem to have much of an advantage on its home court, when Providence fans were chanting, Johnny responded with a haymaker of his own.
A 17-5 run followed, resulting in a hard-fought 75-73 victory, paving the way for St. John's' best 4-1 start in league play since the 2000-2001 season.
Danis Jenkins found his teammate's open layup three times during the run and made a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 10 points with 9:29 left.
When Providence got within seven points, he sank a baby jumper.
But RJ Lewis might have scored the biggest goal of the game with a top-of-the-key jumper with 2:39 left after Providence was within four points.
The Friars got within one on Devin Carter's layup with 9.8 seconds left, and Lewis ran for the offensive rebound after Brady Dunlap missed two free throws.
He hit one or two and defended Jaden Pierre's potential game-winning 3-pointer well. I failed to pull out the iron.
Jenkins continued his recent impressive play with 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
Joel Soriano got off to a slow start but had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Lewis had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Carter led Providence with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
The win moves St. John's (12-4, 4-1) into 10th place out of 12 games and tied with Seton Hall for first place in the Big East standings. The local rivals will face each other Tuesday in Newark.
Just like in the win over Villanova, St. John's started like it was fired from a cannon.
He scored the first 10 points of the game and 20 of the first 25 points, quickly building a 15-point lead in just 7:02.
Dunlap set the tone by making his first three shots, and Jenkins hit two 3-pointers.
Providence was lucky that St. John's had seven turnovers in the first half, leading by just 11 points at halftime.
The Friars did a strong job against Soriano, holding him to two shot attempts in 15 minutes.
But the Johnnies shot 56.7 percent from the field and 5 of 11 from 3-point range against a defense that ranks fourth in the nation in efficiency.
Jordan Dingle and Jenkins were especially sharp, scoring 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Bench points favored St. John's 13-0, with nine of those points going to Dingle.
The second half started much differently than the first. Providence stayed strong, going on a 16-2 run to turn St. John's advantage from a 15-point deficit into a lead.
St. John's missed seven of its first eight shots and committed two turnovers in the first four minutes.
Dunlap's dunk on a backdoor play retook the lead, and Soriano made a 3-point play with 11:36 left for a four-point lead. It was part of a run in which Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to make it 13-2.
