Xavier Calms Red Storm For First Big East Win

Naji Marshall scored a game-high 20 points and Kyky Tandy hit four 3-pointers during a key 9-0 run to calm the St. John's Red Storm as the Xavier Musketeers won its first Big East Conference game 75-67.

"We stayed together," said Quentin Goodin about surviving turnovers.

Tandy's shooting helped Travis Steele's squad forget its 19 turnovers.  The Musketeers were fortunate to push the lead.  St. John's connected on just one of 16, 3-pointers.

"We didn't shoot the ball well," St. John's coach Mike Anderson said.  "We had 17 more possessions than they did.  When you go on the road and don't make shots it is kind of disappointing.  They (Xavier) did what they're supposed to do.  They held serve at home. The Tandy kid was the hero for them."

Tyrique Jones took advantage of a soft middle of the Red Storm defense to slam home three dunks leading to his 12 points.  Tandy finished with 12 points and Paul Scruggs contributed 14 points to the Xavier (12-3, 1-1) cause.  Scruggs hit four free throws in the closing minutes.

"My teammates were finding me," Tandy said.  "I just trusted the process and my teammates believed in me."

"It made my job a lot easier. Kyky is a great shooter and opened the middle for me," said Goodin of his fellow Kentuckian.  Goodin dished out a team-high five assists, some of which led to Jones' dunks.

St. John's (11-4, 0-2) dropped its 10th straight decision to the Musketeers.  LJ Figueroa led the Red Storm with 17 points. Marcellus Earlington scored 12 points off the bench but it wasn't enough to give St. John's its first win over Xavier since the 2014-15 season.

Mustapha Heron, who missed St. John's previous three games with an ankle injury, scored just 11 points after showing some rust.  Heron is the Red Storm's leading scorer at 15 ppg coming into the game.

Xavier survived 13 turnovers, including five by leading scorer Naji Marshall in the first half to lead the Red Storm 34-32 at halftime.  Marshall led all scorers with 15 points at the break.

St. John's put together an early 11-0 run but Xavier fought back with 15-4 run to regain the lead.  Xavier had its largest lead of six at the four-minute mark but St. John's tied the game two minutes later. LJ Figueroa led the Red Storm with six points.  St. John's turned the ball over just four times.

"We knew they were going to press us the whole game," Travis Steele said.  "You see the press on film and you really don't know what it's like.  Then the more you see it the better you handle it.  We turned the ball over 13 times.  Give St. John's all the credit.  They scored a lot of points off turnovers.  I thought we got into a better rhythm as the game went on."

Dontarius James came off the bench to grab eight rebounds to go along with six points.  Jones led the Musketeers with 12.

"Dontarius played more minutes tonight than he's played all year," Steele said.  "He scored six points and he's a better shooter than that but I'm proud of him.  I made it crystal clear with what he had to get playing time and he's done that.  He added great defense and got big rebounds."

James got an ovation when he came out of the game in the waning minutes.