Marquette fends off a rally by St. John’s in Big East tournament
When Marquette plays another Big East team, no one is allowed out of their seat in the final minutes.
In their 19 games against conference foes this season, the Golden Eagles have had 12 games decided by three points or less. They have won six of the last seven of those, the latest a 57-55 victory over St. John’s on Wednesday in the second round of the Big East tournament.
Marquette, the No. 5 seed, moves on to face fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Villanova in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Here’s s surprise: Their first two meetings this season were both two-point Villanova wins.
The Golden Eagles (21-10) looked like they were on their way to a laugher against St. John’s (17-15) in a rematch of a second-round matchup from last season. Marquette won that game 74-45 and it was ahead 27-17 at halftime Wednesday, the Red Storm’s worst half of the season as they shot 29.6 percent.
St. John’s, which trailed by 14 points in the first half, started hitting shots and dominating the backboards. The Red Storm, who had a 22-6 rebound advantage in the second half, took the lead three times, bringing a crowd of about 15,000 at Madison Square Garden to its feet.
The last Red Storm lead was 53-52 after a free throw by Paris Horne with 2 minutes 22 seconds to go.
David Cubillan’s three-pointer with 1:11 left gave Marquette the lead for good at 55-53.
– NEBRASKA 75, MISSOURI 60: Brandon Richardson scored 19 points and the 12th-seeded Cornhuskers took command with an early 16-1 run and shocked the No. 5 seed Tigers in an opening-round upset at the Big 12 tournament.
Underdog Nebraska (15-17), which had won just two of 16 Big 12 regular-season games, outrebounded, outshot and out-hustled the team that had easily beaten them twice this year.
After Kim English pulled Missouri (22-10) to 61-51 with a pair of free throws with 4:01 to play, Richardson canned a long three-pointer, drew a foul from Zaire Taylor and made the free throw for a four-point play that sealed the victory.
– TEXAS TECH 82, COLORADO 67: John Roberson scored 19 points, Nick Okorie added 18 and the Red Raiders overcame a sloppy start defensively to open the Big 12 tournament with a victory over the Buffaloes.
Texas Tech (17-14) has been plagued by shoddy defense since reaching No. 16 in the polls midway through the season and started off that way against Colorado (15-16). The ninth-seeded Red Raiders pulled it together during a big first-half run and held on to end a seven-game losing streak.
[Washington Post]
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