The positives which the Marquette Golden Eagles can take from their 67-51 loss at the hands of the St. John's Red Storm are few and far between. However, quite possibly the biggest positive of the evening is that the season is nearly over. The Golden Eagles fell to 11-18 (3-14 Big East) and have now lost 12 of their last 13 games; meanwhile, a remarkable second half shooting performance from the Johnnies turned the game upside down, and they improve to 21-9 (10-7 Big East) with the win while further solidifying their NCAA Tournament credentials.
The night began with an awful lot of promise for the Golden Eagles, who were celebrating former head coach Al McGuire. There was a sense of occasion around the BMO Harris Bradley Center, and the Marquette players who had taken Al Maguire Court looked as if they were ready to spring an upset.
This was a game which can be described in many ways, but one of those ways is not beautiful. The full 40 minutes were tough, hard-fought and scrappy as both teams shot themselves in the foot time and again. That really was the story of the opening 18 minutes of the game. Neither team took a lead of more than two possessions, and whenever one had a chance to take control of the game they would throw the ball away or miss a shot poorly. However, as has been their wont all season long, eventually Marquette lost focus for a minute and the game began to slip away.
Towards the end of the half, the Johnnies ripped off a 14-5 run to take a 33-24 lead, and from there they would not look back. Marquette's Matt Carlino, who had a stellar game scoring 17 points, hit a three-pointer to cut it to a two possession game. However, he then committed one of the worst possible mental mistakes in basketball. He was given a technical foul for swearing at an official with 0.7 seconds left on the clock in the half, and although D'Angelo Harrison could only go 1-2 from the line the psychological impact on Marquette was apparent.
The refereeing had been a contentious point all night, and it only got more contentious early in the second half when Golden Eagles coach Steve Wojciechowski was whistled for a technical foul of his own less than two minutes after the restart. That allowed the Red Storm to build their lead up to double digits, and although Marquette would cut it to six points on two occasions the game was never very close again.
All season, Marquette have never said die and have fought until the end. On Wednesday evening, they were prevented from doing that by the outstanding three-point shooting from St. John's. They would finish the night 12-24 from beyond the arc, and Phil Greene IV, Harrison, and Rysheed Jordan would all finish in double figures largely because of their shooting from beyond the arc. Jordan led all scorers with 23 points as he hit five bombs from beyond the arc, and Harrison's 21 points on four made three-pointers were a close second. Whenever the Golden Eagles seemed that they would make the game close, one of the aforementioned members of the Red Storm would hit a big shot, and maintain their control on the game.
Marquette will now look to regroup before they host DePaul on Saturday in their regular season finale and their Senior Day. Meanwhile, St. John's will now get ready for a trip to Villanova on Saturday.