NEW YORK (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor scored a career-high 33 points, a St. John's record in the Big East Tournament, and the sixth-ranked Red Storm pulled away from No. 25 Marquette 79-63 on Friday night to reach the conference championship game for the first time in 25 years.
Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. added 13 points and Ejiofor grabbed nine rebounds as the top-seeded Red Storm (29-4) wiped out an early 15-point deficit. They advanced to play No. 2 seed Creighton, a 71-62 semifinal winner over third-seeded UConn, on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Kadary Richmond had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for St. John's, which has won eight straight — and 18 of 19 since the new year. In the program's second season under 72-year-old Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, the Johnnies are one win from their fourth Big East Tournament title and first since 2000.
Kam Jones had 24 points for the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (23-10), who lost all three matchups with the Red Storm this season and fell to 1-6 against them at the Big East Tournament.
Marquette: A lack of strength down low was a problem against Ejiofor and St. John’s all season, but the Golden Eagles will be happy to face someone outside the Big East when they enter the NCAA Tournament.
St. John’s: Making a strong bid for a No. 2 seed in the NCAAs, the Red Storm improved to 20-0 at home, including 11-0 at MSG — the program’s most wins at The Garden since compiling 13 in 1958-59. The last time the Johnnies finished unbeaten at home was the 1931-32 season.
St. John’s trailed by three early in the second half before Aaron Scott drained a 3-pointer, and a foul on Chase Ross was upgraded to a flagrant 1 following a replay review. That led to two free throws by Ejiofor at the start of a 16-3 spurt that gave the Red Storm a 10-point lead with 14 minutes left. Scott finished with 11 points.
Marquette opened 5 for 10 on 3-pointers, then missed 12 straight. By the time David Joplin ended the skid with 11:42 left, the Golden Eagles had gone from up 10 to down 10 before he connected.
St. John’s split two regular-season games with Creighton, which is 0-4 in Big East championship games.
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