PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Chris Mullin, one of the greatest players in Big East history, can spot greatness when he sees it.

He saw it on Saturday in Providence guard Chris Dunn.

"He's one of the best players in the country," Mullin, in his first year as the St. John's coach, said of Dunn, who took over when the game got close in the second half and led the No. 12 Friars to an 83-65 victory over the Red Storm.

"He's got the total package. He can go post up, he can hit the 3, he can play off the dribble -- he's an impressive player. We tried to crowd him a little bit and he's good in transition ... he's big time."

Earlier in the postgame conference, Mullin said, "He's a big-time player -- he's going to be an NBA player."

The feisty Red Storm, down by 18 early in the second half, rallied to cut the deficit to six before Dunn took over and willed his team to the win.

After Providence (14-1, 2-0) went almost seven minutes without a basket, Dunn, who finished with 26 points, hit a 3-pointer, scored on a dynamic move and dunk and nailed another trey in less than two minutes to build the lead back to 10.

"We talk about that all the time and Chris was able to put us on his shoulders," said Providence coach Ed Cooley, who noted his best player is fully healthy after missing 2 1/2 games with a virus before returning for the previous two games.

"Every game Chris plays, this whole city is getting on his shoulders. That's why he came back to school (for his junior year)," Cooley said. "He wants to a leader. He wants to be the guy. I'm going to help him do that, so he better have some really strong shoulders, babe."

Dunn, talking about the spurt, said, "The team looks at me as a leader and I just took on the position."

Dunn, the guard who is a leading candidate for national player of the year honors, also had nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. He had five of his team's 17 turnovers.

After Dunn's eight-point spurt, Providence later used a 17-2 run, with forward Ben Bentil scoring 13 points, to put the game away.

Bentil, averaging 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds coming in, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Guard Kyron Cartwright, who came off the bench to score the first five points of a 22-5 first-half run that dug the Friars out of a seven-point hole, scored 10 of his 11 points in the first half. Forward Rodney Bullock added 13 points, grabbed eight boards and blocked three shots

"We were able to withstand not playing our best and credit St. John's," Cooley said.

The Red Storm (7-8, 0-2) lost their fifth straight. They have lost four games to ranked teams.

"They're a really good team. They're really skilled," Mullin said of Providence. "That's a really good team. I thought our team battled. We got down, we didn't give up, got back in the game, they made some big shots, made some big 3s -- but overall I liked our effort and our competitiveness.

"All the credit to them. They're one of the top teams in the country, but I like the way my guys battled."

Center Yankuba Sima led the Red Storm with 14 points and eight rebounds, guard Felix Balamou scored 11 points and forward Amar Alibegovic had 10.

The game was a chippy affair that was interrupted by 50 fouls and three technicals.

NOTES: Providence has its first eight-game winning streak since 1993-94 and its first in the regular season since 1988-89 and the 14-1 record matches the second-best start in program history. The 1964-65 team started 15-0. ... Before losing to No. 12 Providence, St. John's had already fallen to No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Indiana and No. 25 South Carolina. ... Providence freshman G Ryan Fazekas, a long-range shooting threat, missed his sixth straight game with mononucleosis. ... St. John's swept the two regular-season games from Providence last year but for the second straight season lost to the Friars in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. ... The game was oversold by 34 tickets despite students still away on break and extra seats were added ... This was the 107th meeting between the charter members of the Big East. ... Former New England Patriots player Troy Brown was in attendance.