March Madness has arrived in the Big East.
In a back-and-forth meeting between top-25 teams, No. 6 St. John’s and No. 20 Marquette appeared to be heading towards a second overtime period. Then, St. John’s Simeon Wilcher entered the chat.
Shortly after the Red Storm missed what would have been a buzzer-beater to end the game, he caused Golden Eagles guard Chase Ross to turn the ball over and tossed it to Zuby Ejiofor, who hit a jumper inside the paint as time expired to give Rick Pitino’s Red Storm an 86-84 road win at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
With Ejiofor’s heroics on Saturday, St. John’s extended its win streak to six. The Red Storm have now won 16 of their last 17 games since New Year’s Day. Ejiofor’s shot also kept the Red Storm in the conversation for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which the team can further solidify in the men’s Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.
But Ejiofor’s shot at the buzzer wasn’t the only big shot St. John’s made on the afternoon to win its ninth road game of the year. After Marquette guard Stevie Mitchell missed the tail end of two free throws with 21 seconds left in regulation, Kadary Richmond found RJ Luis inside the paint for a game-tying layup.
Luis Jr., the top candidate for Big East Player of the Year, led St. John’s in scoring with 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, adding 11 rebounds. Richmond had a quiet triple-double on the afternoon, finishing with 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 points.
Kam Jones led Marquette with 32 points on 14-of-30 shooting with nine rebounds, seven assists, a steal and a block. St. John’s will now travel back to New York to prepare for its Big East tournament lid lifter on Thursday, March 13 at Madison Square Garden at noon ET against either Providence or Butler.