There is no place like home.

After a brutal two-game road trip that included the program's worst loss this century, Xavier men's basketball can take a sigh of relief after hanging on to beat St. John's Wednesday night at Cintas Center, 88-77, in a game it could ill-afford to drop.

Xavier led by as many as 11 points after intermission before a late St. John's rally in a foul-filled second half. The game was tied with 3:59 remaining, but Xavier finished the night on a 15-4 run.

Xavier is back over .500 at 11-10 and evens its Big East Conference record at 5-5.

"It was certainly one of our best moments of the season," Xavier head coach Sean Miller said. "I certainly credit our players. It's not easy to go through what we went through in Hartford. They (UConn) beat us so bad, that you wonder if you'd ever be able to play basketball and win a basketball game again. No matter who you were on that trip, you had to be filled with some doubt."

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The Musketeers' backcourt delivered on the big stage once again Wednesday. Desmond Claude and Quincy Olivari tied with a team-high 23 points and Dayvion McKnight finished with 19. Olivari and Sasa Ciani each grabbed seven rebounds in a physical game on both ends.

St. John's guard Daniss Jenkins looked like the best offensive player on the floor for the majority of the night, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Red Storm center Joel Soriano had another double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

"I thought we followed up that performance (at UConn) with one of our best, most meaningful performances in the Big East season," Miller said.

Here's what we learned on Wednesday night.

5 observations from Xavier Musketeers' win over St. John's Red Storm

Quincy Olivari delivers late

With Xavier desperately needing to grab momentum in the second half after coughing up an 11-point lead, they turned to Olivari. Freshman Dailyn Swain chased down a loose ball and found a wide-open Olivari in the corner for a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give Xavier an 80-75 lead with 1:56 left.

The Musketeers ran a set play one possession later after a St. John's bucket, and Olivari was left with space at the top of the key. His fourth triple of the night was the de facto dagger as Xavier would finish it off at the free-throw line over the final 75 seconds.

"The shots (he) Olivari made in those last four minutes were incredible," Miller said.

2nd half was spent at the free-throw line

There was no shortage of whistles over the final 20 minutes of regulation as both teams were in the bonus with over nine minutes remaining. Xavier went 19-of-21 at the free-throw line in the second half (27-of-32 for the game) and the Red Storm were 14-of-20 (21-of-30 for the game).

The fouls overshadowed a great defensive effort from Xavier after a lackluster performance on that side of the ball on Sunday against UConn. Xavier held St. John's to 38.2% from the field in the first half, won the rebounding battle 44-34, and limited the Red Storm to 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.

Xavier's offense has improved

When these two teams met in Queens, New York before Christmas, St. John's full-court press harassed Xavier's defense, forcing 18 turnovers. On Wednesday, Xavier, which is top-10 in the nation in fast-break points per game, took a 38-34 lead into the intermission from its face-paced tempo.

After made baskets, St. John's attacked in its full-court press with surprise traps, but Xavier had an answer for it and picked up key buckets in transition. When Xavier crossed half court and St. John's used the matchup zone that stymied Xavier in December, the Musketeers had an answer with perimeter shooters the Red Storm had to respect and quick ball movement.

"One of the things we took away from the first game was how caught off guard we were with some of the schemes they ran," Olivari said. "I can assure you we felt way more comfortable with the press, breaking the pass, and in the zone or man. We weren't rattled or surprised at anything they threw at us."

Xavier had 17 fast-break points in the opening 20 minutes and finished with 28 for the game. The Musketeers finished with 13 turnovers, but only one came in the backcourt and led to a lay-in on the other end for St. John's. McKnight had six assists and just one turnover over nearly 35 minutes.

"We handled their press and actually scored at times with a quick push," Miller said. "Any time you play St. John's, how you do in that area is key."

Help from the bench

In Sunday's disaster in Hartford, Xavier's offense had one of its worst performances of the season and got little production from its depth. Xavier's strong first half Wednesday was partly fueled by freshman Trey Green, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in transition. Sasa Ciani added 6 points, 4 assists and 7 rebounds.

Swain, who was taken out of the starting lineup for Gytis Nemeiksa after getting the nod over the road trip, made a field goal and tallied 3 rebounds, none bigger than in the final minutes before dishing to Olivari for a trey.

"Sometimes games are won and lost on a loose-ball rebound. That's just the case when you're down two there, they happen to miss the shot and we didn't come down with a loose-ball rebound," St. John's head coach Rick Pitino said. "They did and scored. It always comes down to something you don't expect. We played our hearts out."

Abou Ousmane has early exit

Part of Ciani's contributions included four offensive rebounds and a pair of putbacks. Ciani had trouble down low with Soriano, who went 8-of-14 and led the Red Storm's 32-point night in the paint. The freshman played nearly 23 minutes after Abou Ousmane fouled out with five minutes remaining and picked up a technical foul protesting the call. Ousmane had five points and eight rebounds.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Here's what we learned as Xavier gets Big East win over St. John's