Marquette stops St. John’s in Big East opener

By The Associated Press     Mar 8, 2007

? Marquette needed to huddle up and quickly analyze the situation. Its big lead was gone and St. John’s was scoring at will.

The Golden Eagles knew if they weren’t careful, the Red Storm might send them home early from the Big East tournament.

“We just wanted to focus on our defense,” guard Dominic James said. “They were stealing momentum from us. We were emphasizing getting stops.”

Marquette held St. John’s to three points over the next 41â2 minutes and regained control. Dan Fitzgerald scored eight of his 20 points during the game-turning 15-3 run and the 18th-ranked Golden Eagles held off upset-minded St. John’s, 76-67, in the opening round Wednesday night.

“We totally anticipated a tough game with St. John’s,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “They have so many good, young players.”

Wesley Matthews added 15 points and Lazar Hayward 14 for the sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8), who advanced to play third-seeded Pittsburgh (25-6) tonight. It will be third game between the teams, with Marquette winning both – including last Saturday night.

“They’ve been great games all across the board,” Crean said. “We’ve just been fortunate, I guess, at the end of the games.”

Marquette won despite playing without Jerel McNeal, a second-team all-Big East selection who averages 14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.6 steals. The sophomore guard injured a thumb in practice last Friday and didn’t play in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Pittsburgh. He’s day to day, and it was uncertain if he’d play Thursday.

“We knew with Jerel out, everyone had to step up,” Fitzgerald said. “We had nine guys playing, and everyone stepped up.”

Anthony Mason Jr. scored 19 points and Aaron Spears 18 for 11th-seeded St. John’s (16-15), which was short-handed and playing in its first Big East tournament in four years – and first under coach Norm Roberts.

“It’s tough, but I’m not satisfied,” Mason said. “I’m proud of what we did. We showed a lot of character.”

One major key to the game was Marquette’s domination on the boards, as the Golden Eagles outrebounded St. John’s 41-28.

“They were 12-2 when they outrebounded their opponents,” Crean said. “We didn’t want to make it 13.”

The Golden Eagles slumped down the stretch, losing four of their last six regular-season games, but beat Pittsburgh, 75-71, on Saturday.

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