Markus Howard scored 36 points in Tuesday's win at DePaul.
MBB Minute -- St. John's Tips Butler in OT; Marquette's Howard Gets 36 in Win at DePaul
On a two-game Tuesday in the BIG EAST, St. John’s pulled out a 77-73 overtime decision over Butler and the Markus Howard high-scoring spree continued at DePaul where Marquette grabbed a 92-73 victory.
At Carnesecca Arena, Mustapha Heron scored a game-high 28 points to lift the Johnnies past the Bulldogs. The junior forward, who missed Saturday’s loss to Providence with a knee injury, was 6-of-6 from the foul line in overtime. Shamorie Ponds added 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals. The Bulldogs, who took their first lead of the game with 12.1 seconds left in regulation, got 16 points from Kamar Baldwin. Paul Jorgensen contributed 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. St. John’s improved to 6-6 in the league while Butler fell to 5-7.
Marquette put together an 11-0 run late in the first half to gain control of the contest at Wintrust Arena. Howard poured in 36 points for his fifth 30-point game in 12 BIG EAST tilts this season. Over the past five games, he is averaging 30.8 points. Sam Hauser added 17 points for the Golden Eagles, who are 21-4 overall and 10-2 in the BIG EAST. Femi Olujobi led DePaul (13-10, 5-7) with 19 points and Max Strus added 16 points.
In conference games this season, home teams are only 31-26. Twenty-six of the 57 conference games (.456) have been decided by six points or less or gone into overtime.
Three games are slated for Wednesday with Villanova (19-5, 10-1) hosting Providence at 6:30 p.m. ET in the first game of a doubleheader on FS1. The Wildcats are coming off their first league loss of the season, a 66-65 decision at Marquette. In the six years of the current 10-team BIG EAST alignment, the Wildcats are 47-4 at home. One of those losses was to Providence, 84-76 in overtime on Jan. 24, 2016. The Friars (14-10, 4-7) won 70-56 at St. John’s on Saturday.
In the second game on FS1, Seton Hall hosts Georgetown in a battle of 5-6 teams in league play. The Pirates (14-9 overall) are 4-1 at home in the league while the Hoyas (15-9) are 3-2 on the road. Seton Hall has taken five of the last six meetings, but Georgetown won the last matchup, 83-80 in Washington D.C. last season.
Creighton ends its three-game road swing at Xavier at 8:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The Bluejays (13-11, 4-7) beat the Musketeers 76-54 in the first meeting this season on Feb. 3. In the last 14 games, Creighton’s Martin Krampelj has averaged 16.2 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 64.4 percent from the field. Xavier (11-13, 4-7) wants to end a six-game losing streak. Paul Scruggs leads four Musketeers I double figures with a 13.0 scoring average.