Myles Powell's 23 points helped Seton Hall defeat Marquette.
MBB Minute -- Seton Hall Stays Unbeaten in League Play, Creighton's McDermott Notches 500th Win
On a four-game Saturday, Seton Hall remained unbeaten in BIG EAST play. Villanova, Creighton and St. John’s also nailed down league victories.
In a game billed as a battle between two of the top guards in the country, it was the Seton Hall bench that made critical contributions in the Pirates’ 69-55 win against Marquette at Prudential Center. Tyrese Samuels, Ike Obiagu, Anthony Nelson and Shavar Reynolds combined for 25 points, 12 rebounds and only two turnovers. The heralded guards, Marquette’s Markus Howard and Seton Hall’s Myles Powell, were close to their scoring averages with 27 and 23 points, respectively. Seton Hall is 4-0 in the BIG EAST and 12-4 overall. Marquette is 11-5 and 1-3.
Villanova’s Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 33 points, the second highest point total in a BIG EAST game this season, to lead the Wildcats (12-3, 3-1) to an 80-66 win over Georgetown (11-6, 1-3). Bey made 8-of-10 3-point attempts. As a team, Villanova made 15-of-29 from beyond the arc. Reserve center Qudus Wahab led the Hoyas, scoring a team-high 13 points in only 15 minutes of playing time. The Wildcats led 39-36 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
Creighton bounced back from a home loss to Villanova to win 77-65 at Xavier. The victory gave Bluejay coach Greg McDermott his 500th career win. Creighton (13-4, 2-2) placed five players in double figures led by guards Mitch Ballock and Ty-Shon Alexander. Ballock had 19 points and 10 rebounds with Alexander contributing 18 points and seven boards. Naji Marshall led Xavier (12-5, 1-3) with 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. The Musketeers were cold from 3-point range, making only 5-of-26.
St. John’s (12-5, 1-3) picked up its first BIG EAST win with a 74-67 defeat over DePaul at Madison Square Garden. Rasheem Dunn registered team highs of 19 points and eight rebounds for the Johnnies. Mustapha Heron snapped out of a brief scoring draught with 15 points. DePaul (12-4, 0-3) was led by Jaylen Butz’s 17 points. St. John’s took care of the ball, committing only eight turnovers while the Blue Demons had 19.
BIG EAST play resumes Tuesday when DePaul plays at Villanova at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Home teams are 11-8 in league games going into Tuesday.