No. 12 St. John's keeps rolling with win over No. 11 Marquette

NEW YORK (AP) — Kadary Richmond had 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as No. 12 St. John's beat No. 11 Marquette 70-64 on Tuesday night in their showdown for first place in the Big East.

RJ Luis Jr. added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the streaking Red Storm (20-3, 11-1), who have won nine straight games and 15 of 16. Zuby Ejiofor added 13 points and 13 rebounds as St. John's improved to 15-0 at home before a Madison Square Garden crowd that included New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

Chase Ross had 16 points for the Golden Eagles (18-5, 9-3). In foul trouble early, Kam Jones scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half.

Luis played all 40 minutes and made a huge impact on defense, too, with four steals and three blocked shots.

With its highest ranking in 25 years, St. John’s is off to the program's best start since 1985-86.

Takeaways

Marquette: Lost its second straight and dropped to 3-3 since a six-game winning streak.

St. John’s: It was a rousing start to a measuring-stick week for the Red Storm, who are 1-1 against ranked opponents this season.

Key moment

Ross missed an open 3-pointer that could have cut Marquette's deficit to two with 1:52 remaining. Richmond then hit Aaron Scott for a dunk that gave the Red Storm a 66-59 lead with 1:37 left.

Key stats

After missing 13 of its first 23 free throws, St. John's made seven of its last eight to pull this one out. The Red Storm also outrebounded Marquette 50-28.

Up next

Marquette plays Saturday at Creighton, looking to sweep the season series.

St. John’s visits No. 19 UConn on Friday night. Huskies freshman Liam McNeeley (13.6 points per game) is expected back from a high ankle sprain that's sidelined him since early January.

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