Kadary Richmond collected 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to fuel No. 12 St. John’s to a 70-64 victory over No. 11 Marquette on Tuesday in New York.
Richmond made 8 of 14 attempts from the floor just three days after sinking 10 of 14 shots to highlight his season-high 24-point performance in the Red Storm’s 68-66 win over Providence.
RJ Luis Jr. recorded 17 points, 11 rebounds and four steals and Zuby Ejiofor had 13 points and 13 boards for St. John’s (20-3, 11-1 Big East), which has won nine in a row overall and all 15 home games this season.
St. John’s enjoyed a decisive 50-28 edge in rebounds, including a 21-5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Red Storm, however, did themselves no favors by making just 54.8 percent of their free throws (17 of 31), while the Golden Eagles benefited from a 24-8 edge in bench points.
Chase Ross collected 16 points and eight rebounds and Kam Jones scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for Marquette (18-5, 9-3), which has lost two in a row for the first time this season.
Ross sank a pair of free throws to trim the Red Storm’s lead to 60-59 with 3:21 remaining in the second half before Luis and Ejiofor responded by making a pair each from the charity stripe. Richmond’s neat bounce pass in the lane found Aaron Scott for an emphatic dunk to give St. John’s a seven-point lead with 1:37 left.
St. John’s scored eight straight points to begin the second half and 13 of the first 18 points to seize a 43-36 lead. Ejiofor converted a three-point play to cap the surge.
Jones made a layup to give Marquette a 27-23 lead with 4:30 remaining in the first half before being whistled for his third foul on the ensuing possession. Luis and Scott each drained a 3-pointer to give St. John’s the advantage before Ross responded by sinking a pair of layups to help the Golden Eagles take a 31-30 lead into intermission.
–Field Level Media
