The Marquette Golden Eagles lost their Big East Conference opener, falling 89-69 to the St. John’s Red Storm on Tuesday night in New York.
Shamorie Ponds scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half as St. John’s (13-1, 1-1 Big East) rebounded from its first loss of the season earlier.
Marvin Clark II added 22 points and Mustapha Heron added all 16 for the Red Storm.
The Big East’s leading scorer, Markus Howard, was held to eight points on 2-of-15 shooting. Howard entered the game averaging 25.1 points a game, which led the Big East and ranked fifth in the country.
Freshman Joey Hauser had 15 points to lead Marquette.
Marquette (11-3, 0-1) has non-conference wins over Louisville, Kansas State, Wisconsin and Buffalo, but all three of their losses have come on the road, falling to Indiana, Kansas and St. John’s.
The Golden Eagles return home to Milwaukee and will host Xavier in their Big East home opener at Fiserv Forum on Sunday.
