St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-16, 0-10
No. 6/5 Xavier
20-2, 8-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 36 | 47 | 83 |
| Xavier | 38 | 52 | 90 |
No. 6/5 Xavier Holds Off St. John's
2/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Quotes | USATSI Gallery 
CINCINNATI - St. John's battled No. 6/5 Xavier (20-2, 8-2) to the wire before a sellout crowd at the Cintas Center, but fell 90-83 to the nationally-ranked Musketeers on Wednesday. Felix Balamou (Conakry, Guinea) exploded for a career-high 20 points, shooting 8-for-12 from the field to lead a valiant effort by the Red Storm.
The Musketeers picked up their fourth-straight win and improved to 11-1 at the Cintas Center this season. Trevon Bluiett recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds for Xavier. Myles Davis led five Musketeers in double-figures with 16 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and handing out five assists.
"I thought we played really well," said St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin. "I couldn't be more proud of my team.
"Xavier is a great team. They're one of the best teams in the country so all the credit goes to them."
The Red Storm opened a four-point lead just over a minute into the second half after Ron Mvouika (Paris, France) and Malik Ellison (Voorhees, N.J.) drained back-to-back 3s to cap a 12-3 run. Ellison gave St. John's its largest advantage, 42-38, when he buried a triple from the corner at 18:58.
Xavier countered with the next five points, including a 3 by Davis that sent the Musketeers back up by one, 45-44. The lead changed sides four more times before Mvouika evened the contest at 54-54 with a layup at 12:52.
A key 7-0 run broke the third tie of the game as the Musketeers regained an advantage they would not relinquish. J.P. Macura drained a 3 and then Edmond Sumner energized the capacity crowd with a breakaway dunk to put Xavier up 61-54 at 10:46.
The Red Storm went on scoring spurts to get within two points twice, but both times Xavier answered with a pair of free-throws to keep it a two possession game the rest of the way.
St. John's turned in a resilient effort, battling to the final horn. Mvouika sank his third 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, however, Xavier polished off a 27-of-40 (67.5 pct) free-throw shooting effort by draining all six attempts in the final minute. St. John's finished 13-of-21 (61.9 pct) at the charity stripe.
"We work hard, we play together, and we win and lose together," said Mullin. "That was a winning performance. It's not going to show in the win-loss column, but that's winning basketball, there's no question about that. So I'm proud of my team."
Balamou set the tone early for St. John's inspiring performance, opening the game with a 3-point play. He had 11 of his 20 points in the first half. The Red Storm never trailed by more than seven in the stanza, despite a strong effort on the interior by Xavier's James Farr, who had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting in the first half.
After Bluiett sank his second 3-pointer of the half to put the Musketeers on top 36-29 at the 1:29 mark, Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) converted a pair of free-throws and Kassoum Yakwe's (Bamako, Mali) breakaway dunk trimmed the deficit to three. Durand Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) silenced the crowd with a 3 before the buzzer to make it 38-36 at the break.
St. John's shot 54.5 percent (18-33 FG) in the second half with five 3-pointers in the team's third-highest scoring performance of the season. Johnson finished with 18 points and three assists, while Mvouika had 10 points, shooting 4-of-7 from the field.
Yakwe poured in 14 points, added a team-high seven rebounds and recorded five blocks for the fourth time this season. Ellison scored all seven of his points in the second half. Christian Jones (Arlington, Texas) and Mussini also had seven points apiece off the bench.
St. John's returns to Carnesecca Arena on Saturday to host Butler at 4:30 p.m.
