St. John’s beat by No. 16/15 Xavier

On January 7, No. 16/15 Xavier made 59 percent of their shots from the floor and sank 10 3’s, demolishing St. John’s by a score of, 97-82.

Marcus LoVett led the Johnnies by setting a new career-high with 32 points. He shot 10-of-14, including a 4-of-7 performance from behind the arc and added five rebounds and three assists to that. For the 16th-straight game, Shamorie Ponds reached double figures and tallied 20 or more for seventh time this season. He recorded 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting and contributed team-highs in rebounds with seven and assists with five. Bashir Ahmed was also able to reach double figured by giving 10 points and grabbing four boards.

St. John’s, down 8-2 with just two minutes of playing time in the contest brought them to unleash a 16-1 run to take an 18-9 lead over Xavier with 13:13 to go in the half.  LoVett scored 11 of those 16 points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a 2-of-3 effort from beyond the arc, with an added three free throws. Behind by nine, the Musketeers scored the game’s next 12 points, regaining the lead less than four minutes after. Xavier outscored the Red Storm 45-14 before the Johnnies closed the half on a 7-0 run to cut the Musketeer’s lead by 15, 54-39, at the break.

The Johnnies continued its run after the half, to cut the lead to 13, 54-41. The Musketeers, then, slowly built their lead back up by using a 14-4 run to lead once again by as many as 25, 75-50, with 11:30 still left to play in the game. With a huge help from Ponds, the Johnnies trimmed the deficit to 15 three separate times before the end of the second half, but Xavier kept their lead for a 97-82 victory to remain unbeaten in BIG EAST play.