Dylan Darling keeps showing he’s a clutch closer for St. John’s

CINCINNATI — Zuby Ejiofor fouled out, and Dylan Darling took over.

The reserve point guard again made key plays late for St. John’s in a come-from-behind victory.

After he came up big down the stretch of Tuesday’s win over Seton Hall, Darling followed that up by scoring five points in the final 1:20, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in St. John’s 88-83 win over Xavier.

“He’s got balls as big as church bells,” coach Rick Pitino said. “It’s unbelievable.”

The win gave Pitino the 900th on-court victory of his memorable career. Darling scored all 11 points in the second half, as the Johnnies rallied from a 16-point deficit to win their sixth straight game.

Darling has been a different player since a win over Iona on Dec. 13, when he was passing up shots and logged only eight minutes. After that game, Pitino and Darling went to work on his jump shot, adding arc to it. Since, he is shooting 15-for-27 from 3-point range and is playing with a ton of confidence.

“I have a really good coach who believes in me, who challenges me every day to be better, and he’s making me better,” said Darling, who also had three rebounds and three assists. “I have really good teammates — I’ve kind of had an up-and-down year — but they keep believing in me and giving me that extra confidence boost to make plays down the stretch.”

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Pitino likes the spark Darling provides off the bench, and is happy with the progress Ian Jackson is making at a new position at point guard. Jackson scored all 16 of his points in the first half Saturday.

“Ian’s doing a great job,” Pitino said. “He’s really a two-guard, but he’s doing a great job learning a new position.”

Freshman guard Kelvin Odih saw time in each half off the bench. It sounds like he will be part of the rotation moving forward after impressing in practice of late.

“It’s time for him to play,” Pitino said. “[He brings] toughness, rebounding, physicality.”

Pitino became the fourth coach to reach the 900-win plateau at the Division I level, joining Mike Krzyzewski (1,202), Jim Boeheim (1,116) and Roy Williams (903).