Big East Tournament: Marquette over St. John’s in a nail-biter

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

NEW YORK — It was just another day at the office for Marquette. The Golden Eagles pulled out another nail-biting, stress-inducing victory, this one a 57-55 win at the expense of St. John's in the second round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The Golden Eagles, who must have a resting heart rate of 120 by now, were down a point with less than two minutes remaining but in position to worry. David Cubillan hit a three pointer to put Marquette up for good, 55-53. Lazard Hayward's two free throws with 35 seconds left extended the lead to four and they withstood the Red Storm's last gasp.

"We're starting to learn how to play in close games," said Hayward. "We definitely understand that the value of our possessions are very, very vital for us."

What the loss means for St. John's coach Norm Roberts is still to be determined. He came into the day, by many accounts, with his job in jeopardy. Obviously the less will not make the following days any easier on him.

Hayward led all scorers with 20 points and nine rebounds. The All-Big East second teamer found help from fellow seniors Cubillan and Maurice Acker. Cubillan scored 10 points and Acker added 11.

"The whole deal is that though our margin has never changed, we had a lot of change within our team in the first semester," said Buzz Williams. "But our margin of error has never changed. And that margin is zero."

The Storm seemed to have all the momentum when they took a 46-42 lead with 7:07 left after two Justin Brownlee dunks. The Garden was rocking, with the majority on the side of the local team. But St. John's squandered their lead with off-the-mark shots as the Eagles took advantage.

"It's a game of runs," said St. John's guard Paris Horne. "We know they were going to make their run. We were just trying to get stops."

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