Marquette had St. John’s down.
Had the Johnnies down 15 points, in a big hole early Friday night.
Some teams might have wilted — certainly St. John’s teams of the past would have.
Not this group. Not on Friday night of the Big East Tournament.
No way.
The No. 1 seed had been there plenty of times before, facing major deficits. During the regular season, they won four times when trailing by 14 points or more.
Add another comeback to the growing collection.
St. John’s dusted itself off, and caught fifth-seeded Marquette by halftime.
Then, they lapped the Golden Eagles, crushing them down the stretch like they have so many other foes during this joyride of a season.
Now, it is onto Saturday night at the Garden, in the conference championship game for the first time since 2000 after this impressive 79-63 victory.
“There’s no panic in this stock market,” coach Rick Pitino said. “These guys don’t panic. Down, they dig in, they play hard.”
Said RJ Luis Jr.: “It’s just this unit, this team. We don’t want to lose. I feel like it’s the end of the world when we all lose. Everybody hates losing here.”
The second half was one-sided, St. John’s (29-4) suffocating Marquette on the defensive end and dominating them inside on the other.
Six days after beating the Golden Eagles at the overtime buzzer, Zuby Ejiofor scored a St. John’s Big East Tournament record 33 points — 23 over the final 20 minutes — along with nine rebounds and three assists.
Kadary Richmond tossed in a typical well-rounded effort — 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals — and Aaron Scott added 11. Luis finished with 13 points and six rebounds on an off shooting night.
When Ejiofor exited with 5.6 seconds left, the crowd roared with thunderous chants of “Zuuuuuu.”
He owned Marquette (23-10) again, a day after he was limited to four points in a blowout of ninth-seeded Butler. Ejiofor was disappointed with that individual effort, and came out far more aggressive.
His teammates looked for him. At one point, he scored or assisted on 17 consecutive Red Storm points.
“Last night he got a little frustrated because he didn’t get the ball much, and tonight he just showed unbelievable leadership every time out,” Pitino said. “I don’t know what was better, his play or his leadership.”
Ejiofor was the story, but St. John’s defense, now No. 1 in efficiency, was just as impressive, holding Marquette to 26 points over the final 20 minutes.
Kam Jones led the Golden Eagles with 24 points, but needed 22 shots, and had only nine after the break on 4-of-10 shooting.
Marquette didn’t handle the St. John’s pressure well, committing 17 turnovers, eight over its season average, and managed just six assists.
“[Jones] got off to a hot start, but we had to change that, because we knew what we came here to do this week,” Richmond said. “It was a big effort, a big statement, to come out and shut it down in the second half.”
The start was shaky. St. John’s came out sleepwalking. Just 7:18 in, Marquette was ahead by 15 points. Jones already had scored 13, including three 3-pointers.
But this wasn’t new. St. John’s had trailed Connecticut, Providence, Xavier and Georgetown big during the regular season, and came back to win.
“Not stunned, there’s a lot of basketball left,” Richmond remembered thinking. “They went on their run, it’s about how we respond.”
They responded all right, reeling off eight straight points by forcing their way inside.
The run expanded to 19-5 at one point, after a Luis basket inside.
The St. John’s fans were getting loud, booming chants of “Let’s go Johnnies” bouncing off the walls for the first time.
The Johnnies came out after intermission energized on both ends.
They ripped off a 14-5 run, fueled by two Scott 3-pointers, to take a six-point lead with 15:21 left. That forced a Marquette timeout.
The difference was 10 when Luis and Ejiofor each hit a pair at the line.
The Golden Eagles drew as close as four, but never got their deficit within a single possession. Down the stretch, the Johnnies ran away from them, ran all the way to Saturday night’s title game.
“It’s been a crazy ride. Last year didn’t go as planned,” Ejiofor said. “We want to be in these moments. We want to go into the NCAA Tournament.”
St. John’s will be in the NCAA Tournament, possibly as a No. 2 seed.
But first comes Saturday night at the Garden and a chance at a second title.
