The St. John’s basketball team was in a meatgrinder that it might not have expected.
Despite a hot start and double digit first half lead, the Johnnies found themselves in foul trouble and could not put away Marquette before halftime as the Golden Eagles continued to hang around and only trailed by six, 40-34, at the break.
However, once the Red Storm got its starters back on the court, they were able to pull away from Marquette in the second half, 92-68, to land its third straight victory.
“They were animals on the court,” Dillon Mitchell said about the Red Storm’s opponent on Tuesday night. “They played super hard. They played physical. It was tough.”
“I just think in the second half we came out with a different mindset, different intensity, different effort, and that’s something that we got to have 40 minutes playing like that, not just a half,” he continued.
Oziyah Sellers set the tone for St. John’s, who made his opening two 3-pointers as the team began the game 5-of-6 from the field. He capped the first half with 15 points and ended the night with a team-high 24 points on 4-of-9 shooting from distance.
It was the third straight game Sellers has reached double figures and the fourth time in his last five outings.
When he scored at least ten points in a game, St. John’s is 7-2 this season.
“When I see them going in early, it’s definitely a good feeling, a good sign for me,” Sellers explained after the victory.
The Red Storm (12-5, 5-1 Big East) used a 13-2 run in the second half to pull away from the Golden Eagles behind its dynamic forward trio of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Mitchell, who scored 11 points in the spurt.
At the time it pushed the lead to 23 points, 70-47, which was St. John’s largest of the game with 7:26 remaining.
Ejiofor and Hopkins were limited in the first half due to foul trouble but showed no mercy to undersized Marquette (6-12, 1-6 Big East) in the second half, combining for 25 points after halftime.
Ejiofor finished the night with 22 points, seven rebounds, and three assists while Hopkins chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
St. John’s will go back on the road for another major matchup against Villanova (13-4, 4-2 Big East) on Saturday night (8:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) inside Xfinity Mobile Arena.