West Virginia Mountaineers vs St. John's Red Storm Box Score on Dec 07, 2019

Rasheem Dunn hit the tiebreaking free throws with five seconds remaining and host St. John's survived a late collapse and beat West Virginia 70-68 Saturday afternoon in the Big East/Big 12 Battle.

The Red Storm (8-2) won their fourth straight game and survived missing 13 of their final 14 shots and their last eight straight shots to blow a nine-point lead.

The Mountaineers (7-1) forged a 68-68 deadlock on a 3-pointer by Sean McNeil with 73 seconds remaining but Taz Sherman missed a jumper with 27 seconds left. Dunn stole the ball from Culver three seconds later and St. John's called its last timeout with 16 seconds left.

After the timeout, LJ Figueroa inbounded the ball to Dunn in the backcourt. Dunn moved through the lane and attempted an awkward shot but was fouled on the chin by Culver. He easily sank his sixth and seventh free throws and the Mountaineers had five seconds to tie or win it.

West Virginia called its last timeout and the game ended when Miles McBride's potential game-tying jumper went off the left side of the rim.

Figueroa led the Red Storm with 17 points -- all in the first half. He picked up his fourth foul with about 14 1/2 minutes left in the second half and was on the bench for nearly nine minutes when St. John's gained the lead.

Dunn added nine of his 13 in the second half while Nick Rutherford contributed 11 as the Red Storm overcame shooting 32.9 percent and missing 15 of 17 3-point attempts. St. John's also won despite leading scorer Mustapha Heron being held to nine points on 2 of 12 shooting.

McNeil led West Virginia with 13 points while Culver added 12 and a career-high 18 rebounds before fouling out. The Mountaineers missed a chance at their first 8-0 start since 2009-10 by committing a season-high 22 turnovers on a day in which they shot 40.3 percent.

West Virginia's last lead was 39-38 on a layup by Jermaine Haley with 18:24 left and trailed 44-43 on a dunk by Culver with 15:38 remaining. St. John's ripped off an 8-0 run and took a 52-43 lead on a 3-pointer by Greg Williams as the shot clock expired with 13:09 remaining.

St. John's took a pair of 10-point leads with about 10 minutes left but the Mountaineers kept coming back, getting within 63-59 on a jumper by McBride with 5:51 left.

--Field Level Media