It wasn’t a work of art, but the St. John’s basketball team got the job done for its 12th straight victory against Marquette, 76-70, on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
Things didn’t come easy for the No. 17 Red Storm (21-5, 14-1 Big East) after the Golden Eagles started the second half ablaze behind Nigel James Jr. with an 18-6 run to take a 56-50 lead, its largest of the game.
However, the Johnnies would settle back into things behind an inspired performance from Bryce Hopkins and a late arriving Zuby Ejiofor to control things on the backboards.
"When mometum swung their way, my mesage to the guys was, 'We've been here before,'" Rick Pitino said after the victory. "'Don't panic. We've been here before, we're going to have our run.'"
The duo combined for 13 of 18 points in a 18-5 run that turned its deficit into a seven-point lead, 68-61, with 4:10 left.
"Bryce was great tonight," Oziyah Sellers explained. "He definitely carried us down the stretch."
Marquette (9-18, 4-12 Big East) would make things interesting due to untimely Red Storm turnovers and miss free throws, cutting the margin to two points, 72-70, with 27.5 seconds left before Ejiofor and Hopkins iced the game with four consecutive makes at the charity stripe.
The Golden Eagles were just 4-for-17 from the floor to close the game after it got its six-point lead.
Hopkins led the way for the Red Storm with 23 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting while Ejiofor, after not making a field goal or having a rebound in the first half, ended his night with 10 points and six rebounds. He missed his first five shot attempts before closing the game 3-of-5 from the floor.
St. John’s started cold, making only 3-of-11 shots to begin the game but quickly found its rhythm and closed the half 14-of-20 from the floor. Its lead grew to as many as 11 points in the opening stanza before leading by nine, 44-35, at halftime.
Oziyah Sellers, who came off the bench for the first time this season after twisting his ankle in the win over Providence, added eight points in the first half while Lefteris Liotopoulos, who had not scored more than three points since his 17-point outburst on January 10 against Creighton had seven points in the first half.
Sellers ended the game with 12 points.
The win moved St. John’s into sole possession of first place in the Big East following Creighton’s upset victory over No. 5 UConn (24-3, 14-2 Big East).
The Johnnies will host the Bluejays (14-13, 8-8 Big East) on Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, FOX) at Madison Square Garden trying to extend its lead atop the league standings.