Shamorie Ponds scored 27 points in St. John's Win over Seton Hall.
MBB Minute -- St. John's Takes Sole Possession of Third Place with Win over Seton Hall
St. John’s built an early big lead, then turned back a second-half rally to beat Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden and move into sole possession of third place in the BIG EAST standings. Marquette maintained its first-place positon with a win at Providence and Creighton knocked off Georgetown at home to improve its standing for BIG EAST Tournament seeding as final two weeks of the regular season approach.
St. John’s raced to a 28-5 lead in its 78-70 victory versus Seton Hall. Shamorie Ponds scored a game-high 27 points to go along with five assists and five steals. Marvin Clark II, playing his final regular-season game at MSG, added 18 points, six rebounds and three steals. St. John’s, 20-8 overall and 8-7 in BIG EAST play, earned its first 20-win season since 2014-15. For Seton Hall (16-11, 7-8), Myles Powell scored 22 of his team-high 26 points in the second half.
Marquette (23-4, 12-2) used an 18-4 run to open the second half in its 76-58 victory at Providence. Sam Hauser and Sacar Anim each scored 18 points for MU. Hauser also pulled-down a game-high 13 rebounds. Anim shot 8-of-12 from the floor. Alpha Diallo led the Friars (15-13, 5-10) with 19 points. A.J. Reeves returned to the starting lineup and scored 13 points.
Creighton moved up in the standings logjam with its 82-69 win against Georgetown. Martin Krampelj posted his fifth double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Kaleb Joseph scored a career-high 16 points in only 18 minutes of play. Ty-Shon Alexander added 14 points and tied a school record by making a 3-pointer in his 31st straight game. Only reserves Jahvon Blair (16 points) and Greg Malinowski (12) reached double figures for the Hoyas (16-11, 6-8).
Sunday’s lone contest has Villanova at Xavier on CBS at 1:30 p.m. ET. The Wildcats (20-7, 11-3) have dropped the first two games of their three-game road trip, including an 85-73 decision at Georgetown on Wednesday. Xavier (14-13, 6-8) has won its last three games after absorbing a six-game losing streak. The Musketeers won 70-69 at Seton Hall on Wednesday behind a 28-point effort by Naji Marshall.
Home teams are 41-31 (.569) in league games. Thirty of the 72 conference games (.417) have been decided by six points or less or gone into overtime. The BIG EAST is the only D-I conference that does not have a team with a losing record.