NCAAB

Marquette Golden Eagles at St. John's Red Storm

· Big East Tournament - Semifinal
23-10, 7-6 Away
Final
63 - 79
29-4, 18-0 Home

Ejiofor powers No. 6 St. John's past No. 25 Marquette 79-63 into 1st Big East final since 2000

Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. added 13 points and Ejiofor grabbed nine rebounds as the top-seeded Red Storm (29-4) wiped out an early 15-point deficit. They advanced to play No. 2 seed Creighton, a 71-62 semifinal winner over third-seeded UConn, on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Kadary Richmond had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for St. John's, which has won eight straight — and 18 of 19 since the new year. In the program's second season under 72-year-old Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, the Johnnies are one win from their fourth Big East Tournament title and first since 2000.

Kam Jones had 24 points for the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (23-10), who lost all three matchups with the Red Storm this season and fell to 1-6 against them at the Big East Tournament.

Takeaways Marquette: A lack of strength down low was a problem against Ejiofor and St. John’s all season, but the Golden Eagles will be happy to face someone outside the Big East when they enter the NCAA Tournament.

St. John’s: Making a strong bid for a No. 2 seed in the NCAAs, the Red Storm improved to 20-0 at home, including 11-0 at MSG — the program’s most wins at The Garden since compiling 13 in 1958-59. The last time the Johnnies finished unbeaten at home was the 1931-32 season.

Key moment St. John’s trailed by three early in the second half before Aaron Scott drained a 3-pointer, and a foul on Chase Ross was upgraded to a flagrant 1 following a replay review. That led to two free throws by Ejiofor at the start of a 16-3 spurt that gave the Red Storm a 10-point lead with 14 minutes left. Scott finished with 11 points.

Key stat Marquette opened 5 for 10 on 3-pointers, then missed 12 straight. By the time David Joplin ended the skid with 11:42 left, the Golden Eagles had gone from up 10 to down 10 before he connected.

Up next St. John’s split two regular-season games with Creighton, which is 0-4 in Big East championship games.

How can I watch Marquette vs. St. John's?

  • TV Channel: Marquette at St. John's 2021 College Basketball, week 19, is broadcasted on FOX.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo Free trial.
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Recent Plays

2nd 0:00 End of Game 63 - 79
2nd 0:00 End of 2nd half 63 - 79
2nd 0:01 Royce Parham Defensive Rebound. 63 - 79
2nd 0:04 Simeon Wilcher missed Three Point Jumper. 63 - 79
2nd 0:05 Ruben Prey subbing in for St. John's 63 - 79

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/269.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMARQ https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/2599.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSJU
23-59 FG 28-67
39.0 Field Goal % 41.8
6-29 3PT 5-18
20.7 Three Point % 27.8
11-18 FT 18-25
61.1 Free Throw % 72.0
40 Rebounds 40
7 Offensive Rebounds 11
33 Defensive Rebounds 29
6 Assists 17
8 Steals 10
3 Blocks 1
17 Turnovers 11
0 Team Turnovers 1
17 Total Turnovers 11
0 Technical Fouls 0
0 Total Technical Fouls 0
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
11 Points Off Turnovers 14
7 Fast Break Points 14
34 Points in Paint 44
19 Fouls 17
15 Largest Lead 19

Game Information

Venue: Madison Square Garden

Location: New York, NY
Capacity:

2024-25 Big East Conference Standings

TEAM CONF GB OVER
St. John's 18-2 - 31-5
Creighton 15-5 3 25-11
UConn 14-6 4 24-11
Marquette 13-7 5 23-11
Xavier 13-7 5 22-12
Villanova 11-9 7 21-14
Georgetown 8-12 10 18-16
Butler 6-14 12 15-20
Providence 6-14 12 12-20
DePaul 4-16 14 14-20
Seton Hall 2-18 16 7-25
Full Standings