After the first half, the St. John’s fanbase was optimistic that their No.8 seed Red Storm were only a half away from defeating the top seeded Marquette Golden Eagles and advancing to its first Big East Tournament semi-final since 2000, which is also the last time they won the tournament.
St. John’s held the conference’s player of the year, Tyler Kolek, scoreless in the first half and caused Marquette to produce its third lowest first-half points of the season as they shot 32.4%. St. John’s led by 10 at halftime.
Marquette rallied in the second half and hung on to win 72-70 in overtime after St. John’s Posh Alexander’s attempted game-winning three missed.
Kolek, who scored a game-high 19 points, had 5 of those in a 9-0 Marquette run to begin the second half, and 7 in overtime, including two free throws that put Marquette up for good with 17 seconds left in overtime.
St. John’s Dylan Addae-Wusu finished with 16 points, including the layup to force overtime with 10 seconds left in regulation.
Said St. John’s head coach after, “first of all, what a game, what a game. Just proud of our guys. Proud of their effort and obviously what they accomplished up to this point. Looking forward to invited to the NIT, looking forward to possibly playing some more basketball.”
The future of Anderson is in question as he is 68-55 in four seasons with no NCAA Tournament appearances.
