It was just over a week ago that Marquette knocked off top-ranked Villanova, an upset that came just three days after the Golden Eagles won at No. 7 Creighton.
Cruising towards an NCAA Tournament berth, Marquette slammed into a speed bump it never saw.
Finally, St. John’s may be through going unnoticed.
After losing all three meetings to Marquette last season, the Red Storm rolled to a 86-72 victory Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, winning for the third time in their past five games.
St. John’s (11-13, 5-6), which has now quintupled its Big East win total from Chris Mullin’s first season, was sharp on both ends of the floor, hitting 10 3-pointers, while forcing 17 turnovers.
Bashir Ahmed led the Johnnies with a career-high 23 points, and Kassoum Yakwe added a season-high 14 points in the team’s largest win over a Big East opponent this season. Leading-scorers Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett combined for 35 points.
The two fastest-paced teams in the Big East rewarded the crowd with an entertaining back-and-forth first half. Ahmed led the Red Storm early, scoring eight of the team’s first 15 points, but the perimeter shooting of Marquette gave the Golden Eagles a 23-17 lead midway through the half.
Defense brought St. John’s back, with the Red Storm the holding Marquette (14-8, 5-5) without a field goal for nearly five minutes, and scoring 10 points off turnovers. Though LoVett was limited to two points in the first half, Yakwe’s unexpected offensive explosion made up for his absence.
Despite entering the game averaging 3.7 points this season — having been held scoreless in four of the previous nine games, and scoring no more than two points in more than two weeks — Yakwe looked like the kid who made Big East All-Rookie team for the first time this season.
The sophomore from Mali, who entered shooting 43 percent from the field this season, scored 12 points in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, reaching double-digit points for the first time all season.
After Yakwe led St. John’s back, Ponds put the team in front for good, scoring seven points with two steals in the final 1:12 to give the Red Storm a 45-37 halftime lead.
The Red Storm remained hot to the start the second half, extending their lead to 11, but Marquette kept hitting from deep, led by Andrew Rousey’s 21 points. St. John’s went on a 13-0 run to take a 68-51 lead, but the inevitable cold spell came, allowing Marquette to cut its deficit to seven less than three minutes later.
The Golden Eagles never would get closer, and St. John’s rarely had looked better.
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