CINCINNATI — Rick Pitino compared St. John's to a football team that runs the ball, plays great defense and sometimes throws big passes.
There was no need for long balls Tuesday night at Cintas Center. That stifling defense and relentless rebounding was enough for an impressive 82-72 road victory over Xavier.
St. John's 3-point shooting is still a work in progress, but the Red Storm made just 2 of 16 from beyond the arc in the win. The Johnnies crushed the Musketeers in every other area to earn their first win in Quad 1. 8th win out of 9 games this season.
Cadderly Richmond's attack started early and didn't let up except for a brief period of instability towards the end of the first half.
With big wins on the glass (50-30) and in the paint (54-30), St. John's improved to 4-1 in league play for the second consecutive season.
RJ Lewis and Zuby Ejiofor combined for 36 points and 22 rebounds, while Simeon Wilcher added 15 points.
Aaron Scott and Richmond each had 12.
However, what won the Johnny's in this game was their defense.
They held Xavier, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the Big East, to 22.2 percent from 3-point range and 36.7 percent from the field overall.
The start in Richmond was particularly strong.
He scored the first six points for St. John's and quickly built a big lead, at one point as many as 14 points.
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The Musketeers helped by missing 14 of their first 17 shots. But the Johnnies scored just 11 points in the final 7 minutes, 13 seconds, and Xavier got within four points at intermission.
The 3-point shots were still falling, with St. John's making just 1 of 10 attempts.
They were hurt in transition as well, and were outscored by Xavier 14-2.
It was a similar feeling to the loss to Creighton, where St. John's lost most of its 11-point lead by halftime, falling just one point short.
But unlike against Creighton, St. John's was focused, determined and played a dynamic defense in the second half.
In the first 10 minutes of the period, Xavier made as many field goals as he had turnovers: four. They put together a 14-4 run capped by a putback on Scott's offensive rebound, pushing the lead to a game-high 15 points with 10:14 remaining.
