MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — That sound you hear is a deep exhale from St. John’s and Rick Pitino.

On a night when the Johnnies weren’t sharp, couldn’t keep their opponent off the free-throw line and saw multiple key players foul out, they survived.

Glenn Taylor Jr. made two key plays late and St. John’s got past West Virginia, leaving the WVU Coliseum with an ugly 79-73 victory in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.

Joel Soriano was the best big man on the floor, outplaying Mountaineers standout Jesse Edwards, but it was the unheralded Taylor who came up big.

He tipped an offensive rebound to Nahiem Alleyne for a basket that pushed the lead to four with 1:33 remaining, then scored inside to make it a five-point game.

Alleyne iced it with a 3-pointer and just 20 seconds left.

This wasn’t a performance Pitino will be happy with.

St. John’s (5-2) shot selection was shaky, it sent West Virginia to the free-throw line a whopping 43 times and it never truly took command.

It still was a road win, though.

Soriano led the way with 24 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, Chris Ledlum had 17 and Alleyne added 14 off the bench.

Quinn Slazinski, Pitino’s former player at Iona, had 19 for West Virginia.

It was a very uneven first 20 minutes for St. John’s, which settled for far too many outside shots — it went 2 of 13 from deep — and couldn’t defend without fouling.

West Virginia was in the bonus early, and kept getting to the charity stripe, sometimes well beyond the 3-point line.

Soriano and Ledlum were the offense in the first half, combining for 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting.

Their teammates managed just six points on 3 of 16 from the field.

The starting guards, Jenkins and Dingle, each picked up two fouls in a frustrating first half.

Dingle didn’t have an assist, rebound or steal in his 11 minutes and St. John’s was outscored by five when he was on the floor.

The Johnnies finally created some distance between the two teams with a 10-2 run that was fueled by 3-pointers from Dingle and Taylor.

It, however, was mixed with some questionable shots and a few silly turnovers.

Otherwise, the lead would’ve grown into double figures.