NEW YORK — RJ Luis Jr scored 20 points as top-seeded St. John’s used big runs in both halves and never trailed in a 78-57 victory over ninth-seeded Butler in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament on Thursday afternoon.
The sixth-ranked Red Storm (28-4) won their sixth straight, advanced to the semifinals for the second straight season and will face Marquette in the first semifinal Friday. The game was tied once and the Red Storm led for the final 37:18 to advance to the semifinals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000.
A day after getting emotional in a ceremony to accept the Big East Player of the Year award, Luis made 8 of 18 shots and helped St. John’s improve to 10-0 at Madison Square Garden this season and 19-0 in games played in New York City.
Kadary Richmond added 15 to go along with nine assists and eight rebounds. Aaron Scott also contributed 15 points with five steals as the Red Storm shot 47.2 percent.
After never trailing in its opening-round win over Providence, Butler (14-19) never recovered from an early deficit and saw Jahmyl Telfort and Pierre Brooks II produce quiet showings by going a combined 4-for-20 from the floor.
Patrick McCaffery led the Bulldogs with 16 points, but Telfort was held to 11 and Brooks was limited to five on 1-of-10 shooting from the floor.
Butler shot 34.5 percent, misfired on 21 of 30 3-point attempts and committed 15 turnovers.
Finley Bizjack added 10 for Butler before exiting with an ankle injury a little over five minutes into the second half.
Luis hit two 3s and scored eight points as St. John’s scored 15 straight points and opened an 18-3 lead on his corner 3 with 12:29 left. Butler made a small dent with Luis resting and cut the deficit to 31-21 on a basket by Boden Kapke with 4:23 left.
After McCaffery hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 33-24 with 2:32 left, the Red Storm held a 37-26 lead by halftime.
Bizjack’s basket moved Butler within 39-31 less than two minutes into the second half, but St. John’s ripped off 10 straight for a 49-31 lead on a layup by Luis with 15:29 left.
After Butler cut the deficit to 56-40, Luis hit a reverse layup and a jumper in the lane to push the lead to 64-47 with just under seven minutes left to essentially clinch it.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
