Sam Hauser – Photo courtesy of Marquette athletics.
The Marquette Golden Eagles continued its late-season push for a spot in the NCAA Tournament Field by knocking off St. John’s 85-73 on Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Sam Hauser led five Marquette players in double figures with 24 points.
The Golden Eagles (16-11, 7-8 Big East) led by just four points at halftime but separated themselves in the second half. They handed St. John’s (14-14, 3-12) with its first loss in the last five games.
Marquette hit its first four 3-pointers of the second half and helped the Golden Eagles led by as many as 20 points in the stanza.
Senior guard Andrew Rowsey added 19 points and eight assists, while Sacar Anim, Jamal Cain and Greg Elliott had 11 points apiece.
Shamorie Ponds had 19 points to lead St. John’s, but made just 5 of 18 field goals. Ponds entered the game averaging more than 30 points a game and scored 44 points in the first matchup on Feb. 10 in New York.
Marquette has three games left in the regular season with two of the three on the road. They’ll face DePaul on Saturday in Chicago before a road game at Georgetown and a final home game against Creighton on March 2 at the Bradley Center.