Big man Zuby Ejiofor hit a tie-breaking shot at the buzzer, Kadary Richmond got the first triple-double for St. John’s this century and the No. 6 Red Storm beat No. 20 Marquette in overtime Saturday, 86-84, for their sixth consecutive victory.
Prior to Ejiofor’s game-winner, Richmond knocked the ball away from Marquette’s Kam Jones, with Simeon Wilcher corralling the loose ball for St. John’s and getting the ball to Ejiofor for the close-up shot.
St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor nails buzzer-beater to beat Marquette in OT
St. John’s (27-4, 18-2 Big East) matched a program record for regular-season wins. The Red Storm went 27-4 in the 1985-86 regular season and ended up finishing 31-5 that year. They had already clinched their first Big East outright regular-season title since 1985 a week earlier.
Ejiofor finished the game with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while RJ Luis Jr. had a team-high 28 points and 11 rebounds. On the other side, Jones finished with a game-high 32 points for Marquette.
Richmond’s triple-double was the first for St. John’s since Ron Artest had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against Seton Hall on Jan. 9, 1999.
Both have clinched byes for the first round of the Big East Tournament, which begins Wednesday at MSG in NYC.
Takeaways
St. John’s: The Red Storm won even without having starting guard Deivon Smith due to a shoulder issue.
Marquette: The Golden Eagles enter the postseason having gone 4-6 since the start of February.
Key moment
Luis scored in the paint with 10.7 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session. Marquette’s Ben Gold missed a potential game-winner in the closing seconds of regulation.
Key stat
St. John’s outrebounded Marquette 46-42.
Up next
St. John’s and Marquette both have byes into Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament in New York.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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