McNeal’s 20 points spark Marquette past St. John’s
(10) MARQUETTE 73, ST. JOHN’S 59
St. John’s (59)—Kennedy 3-13 1-2 9, Evans 1-2 1-2 3, Thomas 3-4 0-1 6, Boothe 2-5 2-2 6, Horne 8-15 1-2 23, Edmondson 0-1 0-0 0, Coker 4-5 0-0 8, Burrell 1-4 2-5 4, Wait 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 7-14 59.
Marquette (73)—Burke 1-1 0-0 2, Hayward 6-12 4-4 18, James 6-11 1-2 14, McNeal 8-18 4-4 20, Matthews 4-10 1-3 9, Acker 0-0 0-0 0, Hazel 0-0 0-0 0, Cubillan 0-0 0-0 0, Fulce 0-0 2-2 2, Butler 3-3 2-2 8, Otule 0-0 0-0 0, Frozena 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 28-55 14-19 73.
St. John’s 24 35—59
Marquette 32 41—73
Three-point goals—St. John’s 8-16 (Horne 6-10, Kennedy 2-4, Boothe 0-1, Burrell 0-1), Marquette 3-15 (Hayward 2-6, James 1-3, Matthews 0-1, McNeal 0-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—St. John’s 31 (Kennedy 11), Marquette 32 (Hayward, McNeal 7). Assists—St. John’s 17 (Kennedy 7), Marquette 16 (McNeal 7). Total Fouls—St. John’s 18, Marquette 17.
Attendance—18,614.
MILWAUKEE — Jerel McNeal scored 20 points, helping No. 10 Marquette snap a two-game losing streak with a 73-59 victory over St. John’s on Saturday.
Lazar Hayward scored 18 and Dominic James added 14 for the Golden Eagles (21-4, 10-2 Big East), who played better defense than they had in back-to-back road losses and pulled away from St. John’s with several scoring spurts from their high-octane offense.
Paris Horne scored 23 for St. John’s (12-13, 3-10), which has lost four straight.
After beginning Big East play with nine straight victories, Marquette lost at South Florida and Villanova in large part because of uncharacteristic lapses on defense.
The Golden Eagles’ defense was back on Saturday — they forced 24 St. John’s turnovers — but it took them nearly a half to get their offense going again.
St. John’s tied the game at 24 on a 3-pointer by Horne with 2:55 left in the first half, but Marquette went on an 8-0 run to take a 32-24 lead into halftime.
The Golden Eagles came out of halftime with a 9-2 run, including a pair of scores by Wesley Matthews, a 3-pointer by Hayward and a putback by Dwight Burke after McNeal left an athletic up-and-under layup attempt bouncing on the rim.
Marquette’s defense also played a big role in the run, forcing turnovers on back-to-back possessions by St. John’s guard Malik Boothe, who finished with eight giveaways.
Trailing 41-26 after Burke’s putback, St. John’s rallied to cut Marquette’s lead to 10. But the Golden Eagles went on another run, scoring eight straight points beginning with a fast-break layup by Matthews and ending with three straight scores by James — a fadeaway jumper, a two-handed dunk on a fast break and another jumper to put Marquette up 53-34 with 12:35 remaining.
Marquette shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half, recovering from a disjointed first-half performance that included seven turnovers as the Golden Eagles threw away several fast-break scoring chances.
Still, it was another big night for McNeal, who was honored before the game for breaking the school’s career scoring record in Tuesday’s loss at Villanova — a mark held by former star George Thompson for 40 years. The Golden Eagles also honored Hayward for becoming the 41st 1,000-point scorer in school history.
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