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Nail-biters supreme for Marquette

Photo

Photo by AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Marquette's Lazar Hayward reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the first half against St. John's in a second round NCAA college basketball game at the Big East Conference Championships on Wednesday in New York.

NEW YORK — When Marquette plays another Big East team no one is allowed out of their seat in the final minutes.

How about this stat?

In their 19 games against conference foes this season, the Golden Eagles have had 12 games decided by three points or less. They have won six of the last seven of those, the latest a 57-55 victory over St. John’s on Wednesday in the second round of the Big East tournament.

Marquette, the No. 5 seed, moves on to face fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Villanova in the quarterfinals at approximately 1:30 p.m. today. Their first two meetings this season were both two-point Villanova wins.

“We were 2-5, and since that time we’ve been in one- and two-possession games,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said of the start to the conference season. “… Everything has changed. The whole deal is this, our margin of error has never changed.

“The games that we lost, the lessons we learned, are just as important as the games we won by one or two possessions as well.”

The Golden Eagles (21-10) looked like they were on their way to a laugher against St. John’s (17-15) in a rematch of a second-round matchup from last season. Marquette won that game 74-45 and it was ahead 27-17 at halftime Wednesday, the Red Storm’s worst half of the season as they shot 29.6 percent (8 of 27).

St. John’s, which trailed by 14 points in the first half, started hitting shots and dominating the backboards. The Red Storm, who had a 22-6 rebound advantage in the second half, took the lead three times, bringing a crowd of about 15,000 at Madison Square Garden to its feet.

The last Red Storm lead was 53-52 after a free throw by Paris Horne with 2:22 to go.

David Cubillan’s 3-pointer with 1:11 left gave Marquette the lead for good at 55-53.

D.J. Kennedy of St. John’s was forced into a tieup and the possession arrow favored Marquette.

“I felt like when I had an opportunity to make a play for the team, it’s a play I usually make,” Kennedy said. “I just wasn’t able to get an opportunity to make a play for my team. It was great defense by (Lazar) Hayward.”

Hayward had 20 points and nine rebounds for Marquette. His two free throws with 35 seconds left made it a four-point game and despite the Golden Eagles missing the front end of two 1-and-1s in the final 19 seconds, the Red Storm only managed one field goal the rest of the way and a desperation 3 at the buzzer by Malik Boothe was well short.

It was Marquette’s 11th straight win over St. John’s.

Marquette entered the game ninth in the nation in 3-point shooting at 39.9 percent. That number improved after a 10 of 18 effort against St. John’s, which was just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.

“We’re starting to learn how to play in close games,” Hayward said, “we definitely understand the value of one possession is very, very vital to us, and hopefully that will transpire in the NCAA tournament.”

First, they will face Villanova in hopes of their second semifinal appearance.

“We’ll have our hands full,” Williams said. “They haven’t played since Saturday, you just saw how hard we had to play to escape, so we’ll have a lot to do over the next 22 hours.”