St. John’s weathered the storm.
After which poured it on.
After the Crimson Storm’s first-half foul bother allowed cellar-dwelling Marquette to maintain issues shut, St. John’s surged within the second half to a 92-68 victory at Madison Sq. Backyard on Tuesday evening.
Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins mixed for 25 second-half factors and 12 second-half rebounds after spending many of the first half on the bench with two fouls apiece.
Ejiofor scored 15 of his 22 factors after halftime. He completed the sport 8-of-11 from the sphere with seven rebounds and three assists. Hopkins completed with 12 factors and eight rebounds after totaling two factors and failing to corral a rebound in solely two first-half minutes.
And Oziyah Sellers led St. John’s with 24 factors on 9-of-16 capturing, together with 4-of-9 on 3-pointers, in 35 minutes.
All of that helped St. John’s (12-5; 5-1 vs. Large East) flip a six-point halftime lead right into a 24-point victory over Marquette (6-12; 1-6 vs. Large East).
The Crimson Storm bought off to a red-hot begin, scoring on their first 5 possessions — together with a pair of Sellers 3-pointers — to leap out to a 12-2 lead.
However foul bother prevented St. John’s from piling on.
Hopkins picked up his second foul lower than three minutes into the sport. He subbed out with 17:44 left within the first half and didn’t return till the beginning of the second.
Ejiofor earned his second foul with 8:40 left earlier than halftime and in addition didn’t return till after the break. He performed solely eight first-half minutes.
Sellers stored St. John’s afloat, totaling 15 factors on 5-of-8 capturing, together with 3-of-5 on 3-pointers, in 17 first-half minutes.
However the absences of Ejiofor and Hopkins pressured head coach Rick Pitino to dig deep into his bench. Eleven gamers noticed the ground for St. John’s within the first half, after which it led, 40-34.
St. John’s then outscored Marquette, 52-34, within the second half, together with a 13-0 run that gave it a 70-47 lead with lower than 7:30 remaining.
Do-it-all Dillon Mitchell pitched in with eight factors, eight rebounds and 4 assists in 29 minutes. His efforts helped decide up the slack on an evening Ian Jackson managed solely 4 factors in 18 minutes.
St. John’s turned 19 turnovers into 24 factors.
Beating last-place Marquette was particularly necessary for a St. John’s crew that was making an attempt to keep away from a second house loss to a lowly Large East opponent.
Tuesday’s sport was the Crimson Storm’s first on the Backyard since they blew a 10-point second-half lead in a 77-71 loss to Windfall on Jan. 3. That sport looms massive as a Quad 3 loss — the worst defeat on the Crimson Storm’s résumé.
After that loss, Pitino mentioned the Crimson Storm’s “backs are to the wall very early in the season.”
However St. John’s has gained three video games in a row since then, together with the earlier two on the highway, and trails solely UConn within the Large East standings.
Subsequent up for St. John’s is a highway assembly with Villanova on Saturday evening, adopted by a bout with No. 25 Seton Corridor on the Backyard on Jan. 20.
