St. John’s holds off Xavier in overtime, extending winning streak to 10 games

Zuby Ejiofor scored six of his 25 points in overtime and No. 17 St. John’s outlasted pesky Xavier Monday night, 87-82, at Madison Square Garden for its 10th straight victory. With his 904th career victory on the field, Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino passed Roy Williams for third place in Division I history behind Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) and Jim Boeheim (1,116). It was Pitino’s second victory in 17 days against his son, Richard, the Musketeers’ first-year coach. In the previous meeting, the elder Pitino earned his 900th victory when the Johnnies rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half to win 88-83 over Xavier. Bryce Hopkins added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Red Storm (19-5, 12-1 Big East), who won for the 15th time in 17 games and tied UConn for No. 6 atop the conference standings. St. John’s was coming off a resounding victory Friday night at the Garden against the rival Huskies. Dylan Darling had 16 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench for the Johnnies. Ejiofor provided seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. St. John’s made 28 of 41 (68%) from the free throw line, its most foul shots since making 44 against Lehigh in November 2011. Tre Carroll, the Big East’s leading scorer, had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Musketeers (12-12, 4-9), who lost five of six and eight of 11. Oziyah Sellers scored his own failure for St. John’s with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 78, and Carroll missed a crazy 3-point attempt at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the first half, which ended with the score even at 42 after Isaiah Walker made a 3-pointer for Xavier at the horn. Associated Press reporting.