Xavier Earns Fifth Straight Win at St. John’s, 84-73: Recap

Xavier earned their fifth straight win on the road against St. John’s, now third in the Big East.

Xavier started the game off with two turnovers in a row, but went on a 13-3 run to lead 13-5 with 15:39 to go in the first half fueled by two threes from Naji Marshall and a three from Quentin Goodin.

St. John’s went on an 8-0 run out of the timeout to tie the game at 13-13, but Xavier countered with a 9-0 run to take a 22-13 lead with 10:33 left in the first half.

St. John’s was able to close the gap to five, 25-20, with 7:54 remaining in the first half.

Xavier outscored St. John’s 7-4 in the next four minutes to take a 32-24 lead with 3:45 remaining in the first half.

The teams went back and forth to close the half, with Xavier leading 38-30 at the break. Marshall led all scorers with 15 at half,

St. John’s opened to second half with a dunk, and Xavier responded with four points on one possession from Zach Hankins to take a 42-32 lead. But turnovers allowed St. John’s to cut Xavier’s lead to 42-36 and Xavier called a timeout with 17:36 to go in the game.

Xavier got two baskets on their first two baskets out of the timeout, but a St. John’s three kept them within seven, 46-39 with 15:51 left in the game.

Xavier managed to extend their lead to nine points, 53-44, before St. John’s hit a three to trim their deficit to six. Ryan Welage hit a three of his own to push the lead back to nine for Xavier, but another three had St. John’s back within six. The score was 56-50, Xavier, with 10:55 left in the game.

The Musketeers again managed to extend their lead over the next four minutes, going up 65-57 on St. John’s with 7:40 left in the game.

Xavier continued to pull away, taking their largest lead of the game to that point, 73-59, with 4:09 to go in the game. Marshall made two free throws due to technical fouls on St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin and star point guard Shamorie Ponds to push Xavier’s lead that high.

Xavier led by as much as 16, but St. John’s cut Xavier’s led to just seven points, 80-73 with 46.0 seconds left in the game.

The Musketeers were able to close the game out and get their fifth straight win, 84-73

Marshall finished with a career high 31 points, shooting 5-12 from three-point range. He also grabbed seven rebounds and got three steals.

Tyrique Jones had a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, six of them offensive. Jones also had four assists and two blocks. Goodin finished second on the team with 13 points, and had four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Hankins finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Welage, Paul Scruggs, and Kyle Castlin finished with six points each. Castlin also had five rebounds.