Moe Harkless' putback at the buzzer gave St. John's a 57-55 victory Saturday, ending the Bearcats' seven-game winning streak and giving the Red Storm its first road win of the season.
St. John's (8-7, 2-2 Big East) opened the second half with a 21-3 run and led by 15 points midway through the half. Cincinnati (12-4, 2-1) finally hit some 3s - the Bearcats were 7 of 32 from behind the arc - to take it down to the last play.
Cincinnati's Jeremiah Davis made a 3 from the corner that tied it at 55 with 8.9 seconds left. St. John's called a timeout with 3.5 seconds to go after getting the ball across midcourt.
D'Angelo Harrison drove the baseline after the inbound pass and put up a floater that rolled off the rim. Harkless came in from the left side for the putback, which was upheld on review.
Harrison led the Red Storm with 18 points, 13 of them in the second half. Harkless had 14 points and 14 rebounds in St. John's first victory in six games away from home.
Harrison, a freshman guard, has been the Red Storm's playmaker lately, scoring 20 points in four of the last six games.
Sean Kilpatrick had 21 points for Cincinnati, which shot only 26 percent from the field (10 of 76) and had starting guards Dion Dixon, Cashmere Wright and Jaquon Parker go a combined 3 of 26.
Cincinnati went on its winning streak with a four-guard offense, necessitated by six-game suspensions to power forward Yancy Gates and Cheikh Mbodj for a brawl against Xavier. Both have come off the bench in the last two games, blending into the new offense.
Gates led the Bearcats' comeback from the 15-point deficit and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Bearcats' defensive pressure made the difference in the first half, which ended with the Bearcats up 25-22. Cincinnati leads the Big East in 3-point shooting but went only 3-of-17 from behind the arc in the opening half. Gates played only 4 minutes because of foul trouble.
Kilpatrick was the only Bearcat who scored consistently. After missing his first four shots, he scored seven during a 12-0 run that put Cincinnati ahead 18-10. Kilpatrick had 13 points in the half.
The Red Storm had 11 turnovers and made only eight field goals in the half, a season-long problem. St. John's is last in the Big East in 3-point shooting at 25 percent and went 1-of-7 from behind the arc in the half. Nobody on St. John's had more than five points.
Harrison hit a pair of 3s as St. John's opened the second half with a 21-3 run for its biggest lead of the game, 43-28, with 9:56 to go. The Bearcats couldn't get inside the Red Storm's zone defense and were off from the perimeter, making only one of their first 22 shots in the half.
Gates stopped the run with a three-point play, then banked in a jumper that got the lead down to eight. Wright made a pair of 3s, the last one getting it down to 53-52 with 21.8 seconds left.
Harrison was fouled on purpose and made both ends in the bonus with 18.3 left, making it 55-52 before Davis tied it with his only 3 of the game.
