It was an even contest on Al’s Day between Marquette and St. John’s for most of the first half, but the Golden Eagles let things slip away a bit in the closing minutes and trail St. John’s 34-27 at halftime.

After trailing 21-19 with 5:37 remaining in the half, the Red Storm began to heat up against Marquette’s 2-3 zone and went on a 14-6 run to close the half. Rysheed Jordan leads all scorers with 13 points and Sir’Dominic Pointer added eight points. The Golden Eagles did a nice job of keeping D’Angelo Harrison in check. The Big East’s second-leading scorer only scored five points on 2-of-9 shooting. Four of the Red Storm’s starters played the entire half and center Chris Obekpa played merely 18 minutes.

Matt Carlino led the Golden Eagles in scoring with eight points, followed by Luke Fischer and Jajuan Johnson with seven apiece. Carlino shot only 3-of-10 from the floor and appeared to let the frustration get to him late in the half. After missing a shot with seconds remaining in the half, Carlino barked at the official looking for a foul and drew a technical foul with 0.7 seconds left.

The Golden Eagles dodged a quick scare as flourishing redshirt freshman Duane Wilson left the floor momentarily with a right shoulder injury. He was listed as questionable to return, but re-entered action a few minutes after heading to the locker room. After scoring 22 points Sunday against Providence, Wilson was held to just three points in the first half Wednesday night.

Both teams played pretty evenly in the first half. Marquette shot 36.7 percent from the field, while St. John’s had a 35.3 field goal percentage. The rebounding battle is even at 23, but the Red Storm have taken advantage of their offensive rebounds with 10 second chance points to Marquette’s two.