NEW YORK — Pittsburgh refused to let its latest loss turn into a losing streak as it had twice before.

The 12th-ranked Panthers bounced back from a defeat to Notre Dame in which they faced their biggest deficit of the season with a 71-64 victory over St. John's on Saturday.

No second straight loss as had happened two other times this season.

"I was real happy with how we played, how we responded," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "We had a good practice Thursday and Friday even with the obstacles such as traveling."

The Panthers couldn't fly into New York because of the storm that hit the Northeast this week, so they drove 7Z\x hours and didn't suffer any bus lag.

"Our offense was as good as it's been. We made good passes. We took good shots. Our offense is getting better," Dixon said. "We defended pretty well. There were some great performances from all our guys. It was a good team effort."

Coming off that 68-53 loss at Notre Dame that ended a four-game winning streak, Pittsburgh (22-7, 11-5) remained in the running for a double-bye in the Big East tournament.

The Panthers entered the game tied for third place with No. 8 West Virginia. The top four teams in the final standings begin play in the tournament quarterfinals.

Dixon didn't make it sound like that was something all the coaches were so concerned with, considering two of the top four lost in the quarterfinals last season.

"You would think on paper it would be a good thing but last year didn't turn out to be a good thing," Dixon said. "It's something the coaches have to talk about. On paper you would think so, but not everything on paper turns out the way you think."

Nasir Robinson scored 13 points, including Pittsburgh's first nine of the second half, to lead a balanced offense that saw all nine players who saw time score from 13 to three points.