Win No. 203 for Chris Mack certainly didn't come easy.
It did come, though, and it was a momentous moment for Xavier University and its men's basketball program when it arrived around 11 p.m. Wednesday night against St. John's University at Cintas Center before a crowd of 10,224.
Xavier basketball trailed by a game-high three points with less than seven minutes to play against St. John’s. The Musketeers, whose head coach was one victory away from claiming the top spot on the program’s all-time head coaching wins list, went on a 15-0 run to retake the lead and claim an eventual 88-82 win.
The victory gave Mack 203 for his Xavier career, inching him past now-former all-time wins leader Pete Gillen, who compiled a 202-75 record during nine seasons (1985-94).
Though Mack eschewed talk of claiming the record win as it came into view several weeks ago, he spoke at greater length regarding the achievement in his postgame remarks on the Cintas Center court and in his news conference.
"Been around the program a long, long time," Mack said. "It's humbling. You know, it really is. When I first became the head coach at Xavier I didn't think about that at all and, quite honestly, I didn't think about it yesterday. You worry about the next game or the next day, you know, I'm just not one of those guys that has these long-term goals. Maybe I should be... I'm just very blessed to be the head coach. I'm really honored. How many guys get the opportunity to be at the place where they wore the uniform? And I didn't have much of an impact as a player because of injuries but, you know, if I've made an impact here on guys that I've coached and we've won some games then, yeah, I'm proud.
"I'm not proud of the record. I'm just proud to be the head coach."
Perhaps most impressive is that the majority of Mack’s wins have come in the four-plus seasons since Xavier joined the stout Big East Conference for the 2013-14 season.
Mack has 113 wins since Xavier joined the Big East. Of those, 47 wins have come in Big East play.
In Wednesday's league win, Xavier graduate transfer Kerem Kanter was the catalyst for the No. 11 Musketeers’ (17-3, 5-2 Big East). He scored eight of his 22 points during the decisive 15-0 run that put Xavier up, 79-67.
Kanter went for a double-double on the night as he also snagged 13 rebounds.
"I think it was a complete team effort," Kanter said. "We had three seniors out there on the floor... we just had experienced guys."
Senior Xavier guard Trevon Bluiett also filled the box score as he went for 23 points, six rebounds and three assists in the victory.
Twenty-three of Xavier’s 31 field goals were assisted on.
Bluiett drilled a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play to put Xavier up 86-76. It essentially put the game on ice.
Xavier was pushed hard by St. John’s (10-9, 0-7), which has been reeling in the absence of guard Marcus LoVett. LoVett last Wednesday was ruled out for the rest of this season through injury.
The Red Storm got offensive contributions from Justin Simon early and often. He opened the game with a dunk and received a technical foul for hanging on the rim. That shot across Xavier's bow didn't register much, even as Simon went on to finish with 28 points.
Shamorie Ponds, who launched 28 shots and scored 37 points against No. 1 Villanova last weekend, finished with 18 points on 6 of 20 shooting.
The Red Storm made its first 11 shots of the second half and didn't miss until the 11:19 marks of the period.
Xavier's defense switched between zone and man looks, and St. John's found success against both until around the 9:19 mark of the second half.
From that point on, the guests only found 15 points through the final buzzer.
"St. John's has some fighters and some talent," Mack said. "It showed tonight."
St. John's remained winless in the league because of the loss. Head coach Chris Mullin said the team will continue to play desperate.
"We're looking to steal anything at this point. We'll steal your lungs right about now if you don't watch out," Mullin said. "It's been a tough stretch for us. We've actually played pretty good basketball and not gotten a win for it.
"I think (Xavier is) one of the most aggressive teams that we play, both on the offensive end and the defensive end. They're very physical. Aggressive. I think they play with confidence. I like their style of play. I like their players. They play kind of a throwback style and I think they've got a great team and (Mack is) a great coach."
The Musketeers tied a season-high with 12 made 3-pointers and hit 12 of 15 free-throws.
For the game, Xavier shot 54.4 percent from the field (31 or 57).