St. John’s uses balanced attack in home-finale win over Xavier

This was the formula. This was the plan.

Tareq Coburn and Aaron Wheeler lighting it up from the perimeter. Posh Alexander and Julian Champagnie making big plays when it mattered. Joel Soriano anchoring the post.

It rarely worked out this well, of course. Coburn hasn’t played as much as hoped. Wheeler and Soriano took a while to find their footing. Alexander and Champagnie were asked to do too much too often.

But Wednesday night, in the regular season home finale, the pieces fit. St. John’s led almost the entire way in an 81-66 victory over NCAA Tournament hopeful Xavier at Carnesecca Arena. Coach Mike Anderson’s streak of never having a losing season appears safe as his team locked up seventh place in the Big East.

In his first start at St. John’s, Coburn poured in a season-high 20 points and hit five 3-pointers, showcasing the touch from the perimeter that wasn’t utilized nearly enough. In his return from a two-game absence due to an ankle injury, Soriano had 10 points and five rebounds. Wheeler had 11 points and 11 rebounds. In what may be his final game in Queens, Champagnie notched 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Alexander had 17 points and eight assists in outplaying Xavier point guard Paul Scruggs (seven points, four turnovers).

Coburn started the second half hot, hitting his first two 3-point attempts as St. John’s (16-13, 8-10 Big East) built its largest lead of 10 at 44-34 following a Soriano basket inside. While the offense stalled for a period of time after that, the Johnnies kept outworking Xavier. Champagnie sprinted back to block an Adam Kunkel layup attempt in transition. Stef Smith dove on the floor for a loose ball and was able to call a timeout before getting tied up. They were doing the little things.

As Anderson went deep into his bench, sitting Wheeler and Coburn for a lengthy stretch, Xavier worked its way back into the game and was down just three after a 11-2 run. St. John’s answered with five straight points. Alexander hit two free throws and Coburn sank his fifth triple of the game. When Champagnie followed up consecutive jumpers with a steal and a bankshot, the lead was up to 13 with 4:51 left.

Both teams entered the meeting struggling and it sure looked like it over the opening 20 minutes. Xavier, which had lost six of its last seven games, missed 13 straight shots at one point and only trailed by six. Despite shooting 36 percent in the first half, St. John’s still held a four-point lead.

Coburn provided a jolt after being given the rare start, scoring nine points in the opening stanza and blocking a shot. Despite missing six of his eight shots, Alexander did have four assists and three rebounds. The biggest edge came on the glass, where St. John’s turned five offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points.

The Johnnies’ defense, after allowing 99 points in a loss at DePaul, was much better. They blocked four shots and were much more active, although Xavier’s inability on the offensive end had a lot to do with that. The Musketeers missed 12 of 16 layups, according to Stat Broadcast.