St. John’s makes short work of Marquette for third straight win

Zuby Ejiofor flushes second-half dunk as senior finishes with 22 points in St. John’s win over Marquette. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

By Jason Dimaio (@Jaydimaio)

NEW YORK — Since Rick Pitino made the bold declaration that his St. John’s team had its back against the wall following a January 3 loss at home to Providence, the Red Storm has gotten off the mat in impressive fashion.

The Johnnies, after defeating Butler and Creighton on the road last week, returned home to Madison Square Garden Tuesday and did not miss a beat, pounding Marquette to the tune of a 92-68 drubbing to improve to 12-5 on the year and 5-1 in Big East play.

On the backs of Zuby Ejiofor and Oziyah Sellers, who combined for 46 points, St. John’s coasted in the second half after the Golden Eagles went to the intermission trailing by just six points, taking advantage of Ejiofor and Hopkins sitting for a majority of the opening stanza due to foul trouble.

“I thought Oziyah, from beginning to end, was great,” Pitino said of the Stanford transfer. “He has now, in conference play, 16 assists and one turnover. He’s constantly moving, he’s in great shape.”

“Obviously, I want every shot to go in,” Sellers added. “When I see them going in early, it’s definitely a good feeling, a good sign for me. But even when they’re not, I try to just stay aggressive and eventually, they’ll go back in. I felt good tonight.”

The Red Storm came out of the blocks hot, striking early and often en route to a 14-4 run that saw Marquette head coach Shaka Smart burn two early timeouts. Sellers hit each of his first three shots from distance, while Ejiofor quickly got to work, contributing seven points before racking up his first foul.

Much like the aforementioned Providence game, Pitino went deep into his bench early, something he did not do against Butler and Creighton. Marquette feasted against the second unit, riding the hot hands of Chase Ross and Nigel James to pull within 40-34 of St. John’s after 20 minutes.

Adjustments were made out of the locker room, and with Ejiofor back on the court to start the second half, the Johnnies played through their senior forward, feeding him inside on nearly every possession against an undermanned Marquette front line that was without center Ben Gold. The final result was 22 points and seven rebounds for the Big East’s preseason player of the year. St. John’s outscored Marquette after halftime as a whole, 52-34.

“I think it’s a great win,” Pitino assessed. “(Winning) 92-68 is a great win. I’m impressed with them, and now we’ve got Villanova. Villanova’s a terrific team. We know we’ll have to play great to beat them.”

The Red Storm looks to sustain its upward momentum Saturday, when it hits the road again to face a Villanova team that kept pace with St. John’s in the Big East standings after the Wildcats defeated Providence on Tuesday. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.