Juniors can't rescue St. John's on Senior Night

St. John's did just about everything it could to give this one away.

The hurried shots. The turnovers. And of course, there was Sean Evans' inadvertent impersonation of Patrick Ewing circa 1995. On this particular Senior Night, it was the juniors who tried to rescue the Red Storm. But in the end they were unsuccessful.

Malik Boothe forced overtime with a corner three-pointer, but it was Marquette's Jimmy Butler who had the final say. The 6-6 swingman drove hard to the basket with five seconds left, and after being stripped by Boothe, recovered and sank an off-balance jumper at the buzzer to give the Golden Eagles a 63-61 come-from-behind Big East victory last night at Carnesecca Arena.

It was a must-win for the Red Storm, which came into the contest behind a three-way tie for eighth place by one game in conference play with four games left. St. John's will host No. 12 Pitt at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

"It was very [disappointing], simply for the fact that everybody gave it their all," said senior Anthony Mason, Jr. (eight points), who was honored before the game.

D.J. Kennedy scored a team-high 20 points and Dwight Hardy added 12 points for St. John's (15-12, 5-10). Lazar Hayward had 24 points and Butler chipped in 18 for Marquette (18-9, 9-6), which has won eight of its last nine.

Boothe, who was left unguarded in front of the St. John's bench with seconds left in regulation, pumped his fist after his three. But overtime would not prove to be so easy. The five-minute period was a nail-biter for players and fans, and it appeared double-overtime was on tap after Boothe stripped Butler on a shot attempt with just a few seconds left. But Butler regained possession and put the winning shot up just before the buzzer.

"I thought Boothe had came up with the steal," Mason said. "I was just a step slow. I should've crowded him. I was hoping the shot was late. That's all I was thinking of."

It was the sixth time this season St. John's lost when leading at halftime. The Red Storm, which led 29-25 at the break, appeared out of sync.

With about 7:50 left in regulation, Evans came up with a steal and headed to the hoop. But he chose to lay the ball up softly. As it rolled off his fingertips, it clanked against the back of the rim - similar to Ewing's finger-roll attempt that rimmed out at the end of Game 7 against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"There were just a few little plays and missed rebounds that we could've gotten," Mason said. "So you think about those one or two plays when you lose a game like this."