Xavier Turns The Red Storm Red Faced

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The Xavier Musketeers, a new power in the Big East face a Big East charter member in St. John's at the Cintas Center.

The Red Storm (formerly Redmen) are coached by one of their great players from the 80's Chris Mullin, who led St. John's to a Final Four appearance in 1985.  Mullin then completed a 167-year NBA playing career with the Golden State Warriors and the Indiana Pacers.  He worked in the front office for the Sacramento Kings.

It is Mullin's third season as coach at St. John's and he is trying to rebuild a program.  His record is dismal 33-52 after the 88-82 loss to the Musketeers (17-3, 5-2).

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St. Johns was 0-6 in the conference after a loss seven point loss to number 1 Villanova.

"We're trying to steal a win any where in the conference," Mullin said.  "I told my guys to be aggressive and not worry about mistakes."

That method nearly worked.

After trailing 42-32 at halftime, the Redman was perfect shooting from the floor in the first 11 shots over the first seven minutes of the second half.  Xavier, however, made eight of their first 10 shots.

The Redmen managed to pull even at 59-59 at the 12:19 mark.

St. John stretched the lead to 67-64 with 9:19 mark.

As quickly as the St. John shooters heated up, they got cold just as quickly.

Xavier went on a 15-0 run as St. John's missed six straight field goal attempts.  Shamorie Ponds, who scored 37 points against Villanova, hit a 3-point shot to break the slump.  He ended the night with 18 points.

Xavier got a huge performance from big man, Kerem Kanter who scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, which tied his season high.

"Karem played his best game in a Xavier uniform," Mack said.

Xavier used the 3-pointer in the first half.  It's first eight field goals were from 3-point range.

Justin Simon led St. John with a career-high 28 points, easily eclipsing his previous high of 17.  Marvin Clark II added 15 points to the Redmen's cause.

"It doesn't mean that much to me personally.  Scoring is not my game but I do what they need me to do," Simon said.  "Coach told me to be aggressive and have fun.  He told me not to worry about my mistakes.  I feel I did that."

Trevon Bluiett scored 23 points to lead the Musketeers.  J.P. Macura had 16 and Kaiser Gates added 11.

Mack turned in his 203 win as Xavier's head coach, passing Pete Gillen for whom he played.

"It's humbling. It really is," Mack said.  "When I first became the coach at Xavier, I didn't think about it.  Honestly, I didn't think about it yesterday. You think about the next game."

This game was tougher than most people expected.

"It was a very tough-earned wn," Mack said.  "You always worry about your team looking at the records and thinking it's going to be easier than it is.  I think the older guys knew it was going to be a tough game.  I thought our defense was average but picked up in the last seven minutes."

The win was the fifth straight over St. John's. and gives the Musketeers a 7-3 all-time advantage in the rivalry.  Since joining the Big East Xavier is 7-2 against St. John.

Xavier will take on Seton Hall, which is 5-2 in the conference after losing to Creighton, on Saturday in New Jersey at 2:30 p.m.

St. John will try to win its first conference game at Georgetown Saturday at noon.