It wore the label “exhibition game,” but Saturday night’s meeting between No. 5 St. John’s and No. 7 Michigan at the Garden definitely didn’t play like one.

The waged a highly-competitive battle that certainly indicated they are probably both worthy of their preseason national rankings and nothing was decided between them until the last 10 seconds of overtime.

Lefteris Liotopoulos was fouled on a three-point shot with 8.4 seconds left and the Red Storm down by two, but missed two of three free throws and Michigan ended up with an exhilarating 96-94 win before 13,287.

The elements of the game were important but the bottom line is the question of whether St. John’s is ready for what Pitino has called the “ most challenging schedule St. John’s has ever played.” It opens the season Nov.

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