St. John's hit just enough free throws down the stretch to survive a late flurry and earn a 59-57 victory at Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Storm (15-9, 7-5 Big East) led by 12 midway through the second half, before Cincinnati stormed back with a late 17-2 run to go ahead, 57-54, with 1:27 to go. St. John's regrouped with four straight points, however, and Rashad Bishop and Sean Kilpatrick both missed shots that would have put the Bearcats back in front in the final eight seconds.

Malik Boothe hit a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to put St. John's ahead for good. Justin Brownlee hit 1 of 2 foul shots with 3.5 seconds left to put the Red Storm up two, and Kilpatrick missed a desperation heave for the Bearcats as time expired.

Cincinnati got more than half of its points from 3-point range but made only 11 of its 30 tries from beyond the arc. The Bearcats also hurt themselves at the foul line, hitting just 8 of 15 free throws.

Dwight Hardy and Brownlee scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, for St. John's. Kilpatrick led Cincinnati (19-6, 6-6) with 15 points.