With all the talk about St. John’s inside presence, Marquette forgot all about D’Angelo Harrison’s capabilities.
St. John’s defeated Marquette with ease Saturday, 74-59. Harrison, entering the contest averaging 17.7 points per game, led all scorers with 27 points on six three-pointers. The Red Storm fought back from an early deficit and never trailed again.
Derrick Wilson guided Marquette with 14 points, one of four Golden Eagles to score in double figures. Jake Thomas and Deonte Burton each had 11, and Davante Gardner scored 10.
The Golden Eagles shot 34.8 percent from the field and dished out eight assists. Marquette committed 16 turnovers, leading to 21 St. John’s points.
“We need to shoot better than 35 percent from the field to have a chance to win on the road and 16 turnovers is really high in a 70-, 72-possession game,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams told the Associated Press.
The Red Storm, leading the country in blocks, used its vicious interior defense to swat 12 shots. Center Chris Obekpa set the tone in the post for St. John’s, blocking seven shots.
“The interior defense ignites our offense,” Red Storm coach Steve Lavin said. “(Obekpa’s) blocking fuels what we want to do offensively.”
Marquette carried its momentum from Thursday’s win over Providence early into the first half, pulling out to an 8-3 lead. St. John’s surged to a 30-12 run to close the half, largely influenced by Harrison’s 11 consecutive points in a three-minute span.
St. John’s and Marquette traded baskets in the opening four minutes of the second half before Harrison made three straight three-pointers, including a four-point play, to get the score to 51-33.
A fast break dunk by Rysheed Jordan with 11:24 to go made the lead 24. A Jamal Branch layup with 7:08 left gave the Red Storm its largest lead of 26.
Derrick Wilson would score Marquette’s next 12 points by slashing inside and at the charity stripe, but the Golden Eagles were far from a comeback bid at that point.
It was the second straight game Williams went with the starting lineup of Jamil Wilson, Derrick Wilson, JaJuan Johnson, Deonte Burton and Chris Otule. Burton battled foul trouble and logged 17 minutes before fouling out. Williams said Jamil Wilson was suffering from flu-like symptoms, which kept his output to 13 minutes.
Each Golden Eagle played at least 11 minutes, but no matter how much mixing and matching Marquette experimented with, St. John’s always seemed to have a response.
Credit the Golden Eagles for being scrappy on the offensive glass, where they collected 21 rebounds and tallied 21 second-chance points. But in the end, turnovers, poor shot selection, and a lackluster transition game sealed their fates.
St. John’s has snapped out of its funk, having won three of its last four Big East tilts after starting off 0-5.
The loss damaged the Golden Eagles’ tournament resume. Marquette is 3-10 against the RPI top 100 and is now 4-5 in the conference. Williams is making 11 Big East wins the minimum the team will need for tournament consideration.
“I would say we probably have to go 7-2 down the stretch,” Williams said. “That would be 11 conference wins and that might get you in as a bubble team. Maybe we have to win a game in New York in the Big East tournament. We don’t have enough data on the new Big East to know what it takes to be an at-large team.”
Marquette has not won consecutive games since Dec. 14-17. It will have the opportunity to even its record at .500 Tuesday at 8 p.m. when it hosts Butler.
