Winning back-to-back road games in the Big East – no matter who they are against – is enough to make teams take notice, which first-year coach Steve Lavin's Red Storm are certainly doing after St. John's 67-65 victory at Providence on Saturday.

Dwight Hardy scored 21 points and played all 40 minutes for St. John's (9-3, 2-0 Big East), but reserve Paris Horne came up with two of the biggest plays.

Horne buried a 3-pointer with 28.3 seconds left to break a 62-62 tie, and drew a charge on the Friars' subsequent possession. The senior guard had scored two points before the big shot.

Marshon Brooks' 20 points paced Providence (11-4, 0-2), which trailed by as many as 51-39 before rallying to take a 59-58 lead on Gerard Coleman's three-point play with 3:59 remaining.

The Red Storm, which went 6-12 in conference last season, began Big East play with an 81-71 victory at West Virginia on Wednesday, and held the high-scoring Friars 15 points below their season average.

Now Lavin's club really gets tested, as seven of the Red Storm's next eight games come against ranked teams.