NEW YORK CITY − Xavier men’s basketball left Madison Square Garden with another road loss, but not another deflating performance.

Six days after opening February with a 32-point loss to UConn in Hartford, Xavier went blow-for-blow with No. 17 St. John’s before the heavily favored Johnnies tied it late, then pulled away in overtime for an 87-82 victory.

Despite giving St. John’s everything it could handle in Manhattan, Xavier has now lost six consecutive road contests as the results continue to lag behind the improvement the Musketeers have made this season.

Takeaways from Xavier Musketeers OT loss over/to No. 17 St. John’s Red Storm

Xavier loses lead late, falls in overtime to St. John’s

Xavier got a bucket by Tre Carroll with 47.2 seconds left in regulation to take a 78-76 lead.

Xavier forced three St. John’s misses on the ensuing possession, but the Musketeers couldn’t grab a game-sealing rebound underneath the basket. Eventually, St. John’s guard Oziyah Sellers tied it with a tip-in with 15.9 seconds remaining.

Carroll slipped on Xavier’s final possession of regulation and threw up a prayer that was well offline to send the game into overtime.

In the extra stanza, Xavier committed three turnovers on its first five possessions as St. John’s began to pull away at the free-throw line. A miss by Filip Borovicanin in the final half-minute of overtime led to a Sellers dunk in transition to effectively end it.

Xavier can’t survive lopsided free-throw numbers in loss to St. John’s

Free-throw disparity has been a big topic for Xavier in Big East play. It reached a new level against St. John’s with the Red Storm attempting 41 to Xavier’s 17. It marked the Johnnies’ most free throw attempts in a game since 2011 (44 vs. Lehigh).

Neither team exceled at the stripe with Xavier hitting just 52.9% and St. John’s connecting at a 68.3% clip.

It made the biggest difference in overtime. With the score knotted at 80-80, Xavier committed four consecutive fouls, the final three resulted in Jovan Milicevic, Isaiah Walker and Malik Messina-Moore fouling out.

St. John’s shot just 37% in the second half but made 15 free throws. The Johnnies were led by Zuby Ejiofor’s game-high 25 points. Forward Bryce Hopkins added 19 and guard Dylan Darling poured in 16 off the bench. That trio combined for 24 of the Red Storm’s 28 free throws.

Tre Carroll’s big 2nd half anchors Xavier’s near upset of St. John’s

Carroll had a career-high 31 points in the first meeting against St. John’s but had just 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting in the first half after two early fouls.

Carroll made up for it down the stretch, scoring 17 of Xavier’s 36 second-half points. He finished with a team-high 21 points and was joined in double figures by Milicevic (13), Borovicanin (12), Messina-Moore (11) and Anthony Robinson (10).

Robinson hadn’t made a bucket in Big East play but came along in a big way with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including several emphatic dunks. He played double-digit minutes (19) for just the third time in conference play.

Rick Pitino makes more coaching history against son’s Musketeers 

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino continued to add to his historic resume Monday night against his son, Richard Pitino. After earning his 900th career win in January at Cintas Center, the elder Pitino passed Roy Williams for third place on the all-time wins list with his 904th career victory. 

Rick Pitino is now 5-1 in six career meetings against his son. Richard’s lone win was in Dec. 2022 when his New Mexico Lobos beat Rick’s Iona Gaels in Albuquerque.

Xavier manages foul trouble in 1st half vs. St. John’s

St. John’s was in the bonus with over nine minutes remaining in the first half, then got to the double bonus at the 5:02 mark. Xavier was whistled for 13 first-half fouls but kept pace with the Johnnies thanks to individual spurts from Messina-Moore, Borovicanin and Milicevic, plus some help from the bench.

Messina-Moore scored nine straight for Xavier to trim St. John’s lead to 17-15 at the under-12 media timeout. Borovicanin scored the next five to give Xavier the lead. Milicevic led Xavier with 10 at the half but picked up his third foul with 2:09 left and had to sit.

Off the bench, Walker hit a long 3-pointer just before the buzzer to tie things at 42-42 at the intermission.

Xavier Musketeers return home on Valentine’s Day

After a two-game road swing, Xavier is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 14 when the Musketeers host Marquette at Cintas Center.

Marquette won the first meeting at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, 66-65.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Takeaways from Xavier Musketeers overtime loss to No. 17 St. John’s

Reporting by Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer

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