St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-10, 0-4BE
Marquette
12-4, 2-2BE
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 39 | 36 | 75 |
| Marquette | 31 | 50 | 81 |
Marquette Knocks Off St. John's in Milwaukee
1/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Quotes | USATSI Photo Gallery 
MILWAUKEE - The Red Storm couldn't hold off Marquette's second half charge as the Golden Eagles erased a double-digit deficit to come away with an 81-75 victory on Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Luke Fischer went for 18 points for the Golden Eagles on 7-of-10 shooting. St. John's was led by Durand Johnson (Baltimore, Md.), who also poured in 18 points for his eighth double-figure scoring effort in the past 10 games.
St. John's (7-10, 0-4) was playing short-handed as starting center Yankuba Sima (Girona, Spain) was sidelined due to injury. Fellow freshman Kassoum Yakwe (Bamako, Mali) stepped up in Sima's absence and nearly recorded a double-double with nine points and a career-high 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-7 forward swatted six shots in his first-career start.
"Overall, we kept a good pace," said St. John's head coach Chris Mullin. "We lost [Yankuba] Sima last game so this is the first game we really went small."
"I thought they did a good job using their size to wear us down a bit."
The Red Storm went up 10 points on the first possession of the second half when Yakwe threw down a two-handed slam. St. John's held a lead midway through the second half before Marquette gained momentum with an 8-0 run. Sandy Cohen III sank a triple and then five-straight points from Duane Wilson put the Golden Eagles up 55-53 for the team's first lead since the 12 minute mark in the first half.
Johnson evened the score minutes later, hitting one of his four 3-pointers. Felix Balamou (Conakry, Guinea) then gave St. John's a 57-55 lead with a baseline jumper. After Fischer tied the game with a pair of free-throws, Yakwe came up with his sixth rejection that led to an open court layup that put the Red Storm up 59-57.
"Kassoum, like all our younger players, is very hard working and diligent," said Mullin. "I was happy and proud of him because he battled all game; rebounding, blocking shots and running the floor. Impressive [showing from Kassoum]."
Wilson answered with back-to-back 3s that energized the 13,468 fans in attendance. The second triple put Marquette up 63-59. The Red Storm tied the contest for the sixth time, 63-63, after Yakwe made a free-throw and Ron Mvouika (Paris, France) sank his third 3 of the game.
Henry Ellenson responded with a jumper to regain an advantage the Golden Eagles would not relinquish. Marquette sank all 10 free-throws in the final minute to hold off the Red Storm. Ellenson scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and grabbed 10 boards.
The Red Storm buried 7-of-11 3-point attempts in the first half to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room. St. John's poured in 10-straight points to go up 37-27 with 1:22 left before intermission. Malik Ellison (Voorhees, N.J.) got the Red Storm going with five-straight points, including a jumper that broke a tie at 27 and sparked the run.
Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) knocked down his first bucket of the game with a triple from the corner and Yakwe hit a jumper in the lane. Johnson capped the surge with his second 3-pointer of the first half to give the Red Storm its largest lead of the stanza.
Mvouika finished with 13 points and Mussini had 10 to round out the three St. John's players in double-figures. The Red Storm sank 11 3-pointers in the contest and shot 45.2 percent from the field.
St. John's returns to action on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden when the squad hosts Georgetown at 6:30 p.m. on FS1 and 570 AM WMCA.
