Rick Pitino Passes Roy Williams in Career Wins As St. John's Outlasts Xavier

Rick Pitino beat his son Richard's squad for the second time in three weeks for win No. 904.

St. John's head coach Rick Pitino moved into third-place all-time in career wins after beating his son Richard's Xavier squad for second time in less than three weeks. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

St. John's coach Rick Pitino passed the legendary Roy Williams for third-place all-time in career wins as the No. 17 Red Storm (19-5, 12-1 Big East) beat Richard Pitino and the Xavier Musketeers (12-12, 4-9 Big East) 87-82 in overtime on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Career win No. 904 represented the second comeback victory for elder Pitino in less than three weeks over his son's Xavier squad. Rick Pitino praised his son's coaching postgame, and the team that Xavier has.

"I hope we don't play them in the Big East tournament," Pitino said postgame, via the AP. "I think my son's brilliant. I'm proud of him. I hate getting any milestone against him, but I go away from tonight saying my son's a hell of a coach. ...To say my son's a great coach is much more pleasing to me than any number of victories."

Pitino said that Richard's staff "totally outcoached us" in both meetings.

"In two games against them, he's totally outcoached me, and their staff totally outcoached us. We could not guard them. We could not stop them in their offense. They got us in bad switches. They executed. All the credit goes to Richard, his staff, his players. They've outplayed us twice, but we just gutted it out in the final minutes to come away with a victory."

St. John's star Zuby Ejiofor scored 25 points, six of which came in overtime. Bryce Hopkins pitched in with 19 points and nine rebounds for the Red Storm.

The elder Pitino is now 5-1 all-time against his son.

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