Markus Howard scored 19 of his 32 points in the first half and Marquette recorded its third straight win, 82-68 over visiting St. John's in Big East play on Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
Howard, who entered as the nation's leading scorer at 28.2 points per game, has averaged 36.3 points in the last three for the Golden Eagles (14-5, 4-3 in Big East), who nearly let a 14-point, second-half lead slip away. Howard shot 8 of 20 from the field, but went 12 of 13 from the free-throw line.
Marquette took a 66-60 lead with 6:09 left when Howard was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws. Sacar Anim (21 points) knocked down a 3 to cap a 7-0 run and put the hosts up by nine. The Golden Eagles, who went 12 of 32 from distance, finished 26 of 33 from the free-throw line to hold off the Red Storm and improve to 10-1 at home.
Mustapha Heron had 18 points and LJ Figueroa scored 13 for St. John's (12-8, 1-6 in Big East), which dropped its third in a row and fell to 0-4 on the road in the league. The Red Storm went 10 of 28 from 3-point range, and shot 36.6 percent overall.
Marquette led 37-31 at halftime, and Howard made five consecutive free throws out of the break to push that advantage to 11. The Red Storm used a 7-0 run to get within four, but 3-pointers by Jamal Cain and Anim put the hosts up 48-38.
The Golden Eagles hit five of their first 3-point attempts of the second half to push their lead to 59-45 with 12:54 left. However, a 10-0 run got St. John's within 59-55 with 9:28 to play. Anim, though, answered with a 3-pointer.
The Red Storm were not done and got within 62-60, when Marquette made a surge of its own to eventually take control.
These teams opened a combined 6 of 25 shooting. However, Howard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to highlight a 10-0 run that put the home team ahead 35-29 with 1:53 left in the half.
--Field Level Media
