NEW YORK — Zuby Ejiofor scored 23 of his career-high 33 points in the second half as top-seeded St. John’s pulled away for a 79-63 victory over fifth-seeded Marquette on Friday night in the Big East tournament semifinals.
The sixth-ranked Red Storm (29-4) advanced to their first conference tournament title game since beating UConn in 2000. St. John’s will face second-seeded Creighton after the Bluejays defeated third-seeded UConn 71-62 in the other semifinal matchup.
St. John’s won its seventh straight and improved to 11-0 at Madison Square Garden this season by outscoring No. 25 Marquette 44-26 in the final 20 minutes after facing an early 15-point deficit.
After being held to four points in the quarterfinal win over Butler on Thursday, Ejiofor dominated the second half, hitting seven of eight shots from the field. Ejiofor surpassed his previous career best of 28 set Dec. 7 against Kansas State and shot 11-of-15 overall.
Six days after hitting the game-winner in overtime in Milwaukee, Ejiofor also sank 11 of 12 free throws and pulled down nine rebounds before exiting to a standing ovation in the final seconds.
RJ Luis Jr. added 13 on 4-of-18 shooting for the Red Storm, who shot 41.8 percent overall and scored 44 points in the paint. Kadary Richmond collected 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Aaron Scott contributed 11.
Kam Jones started hot and led the Golden Eagles (23-10) with 24 points. He scored 15 by halftime when Marquette took a two-point lead.
Stevie Mitchell added 11 but David Joplin was held to nine on 3-of-12 shooting and Chase Ross was limited to eight as the Golden Eagles shot 34.5 percent after halftime and 39 percent overall.
Jones scored 10 points, hitting two open 3s along with a crafty reverse layup as the Golden Eagles took a 12-5 lead a little over four minutes in. Jones sank his third 3 for a 20-9 lead with 14:07 left, and the Golden Eagles soon took a 15-point lead on a layup by Joplin.
St. John’s answered with a 22-7 run and forged a 31-all tie with 5:11 left on a corner 3 by Deivon Smith. There were two more deadlocks the rest of the half before Marquette entered the break with a 37-35 lead following two free throws by Mitchell with 30 seconds left.
Scott hit a corner 3 for a 42-all tie with 17:14 left and Ross was assessed a flagrant foul for throwing Ejiofor to the floor. Scott hit a 3 from the right side in front of coach Rick Pitino before Jones could cover as the Red Storm took a 51-45 lead with 15:23 left.
After Scott’s 3, Ejiofor and Luis combined for the next 19 Red Storm points, upping the lead to 70-56 on the center’s powerful two-handed dunk with 5:26 remaining to start finishing it off.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
