St. John's overcomes foul trouble, pulls away from Marquette for fifth win in six games
St. John's Zuby Ejiofor drives to the basket in the second half during a college basketball game against Marquette at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Mitchell Layton
Oziyah Sellers’ shots kept finding the bottom of the net. Zuby Ejiofor found Bryce Hopkins cutting to the basket on a break with a perfect pass for a dunk.
Sadiku Ibine Ayo made more than a handful of hustle plays, including saving a ball from going out of bounds and finding Sellers for a three-pointer.
St. John’s may be starting to roll and these scenes from Tuesday night’s game against Marquette were just a glimpse of what it looked like.
The Red Storm held a lead with key players in first-half foul trouble, got on track after halftime and pulled away late to roll to a 92-68 Big East win over the struggling Golden Eagles at the Garden.
“I want every shot to go in, so when I see them going in early, it’s definitely a good feeling, a good sign for me,” Sellers said.
St. John’s (12-5, 5-1) has won five of its last six games. The Red Storm have a chance to ring up a third Quad 1 victory in two weeks when they face Villanova in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
Marquette (6-12, 1-6) has lost eight of its last nine games.
Sellers had 24 points and shot 9-for-16, including four three-pointers.
Ejiofor had 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Hopkins had 12 points, 10 in the second half, and three assists and Dillon Mitchell had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Ibine Ayo added six rebounds and three steals in 19 minutes when St. John’s outscored the Eagles by 12.
St. John’s pulled away in the second half with a 20-5 run for a 70-47 lead. The Sellers three-pointer off the Ibine Ayo save ignited the run, Mitchell had all of his 10 second-half points in the surge and Mitchell capped it with a dunk off a Hopkins feed.
“Tonight, when we’re backs to the wall in bad foul trouble and [Ibine Ayo] steps up?” Storm coach Rick Pitino said.
“He gave a lot of energy.”
In one stretch during the run, Marquette went 4:07 without a basket.
St. John’s was fast out of the gate, scoring nine points over four possessions in 92 seconds, and had a double-digit lead after less than three minutes, but Hopkins and Ejiofor both got into foul trouble and it stalled the momentum.
The Red Storm ended up with a 40-34 halftime lead after being up by as much as 11 points in those first 20 minutes.
“We played with our bench and to be up six points [at the half], I was very pleased, because we’re in foul trouble, and other guys came in the game [and produced],” Pitino said.
Hopkins picked up his second foul after just 2:16 and went to the bench. Ejiofor ended up sitting after he got his second foul with 8:40 left in the half.
Ejiofor had been a big part of the hot start with seven of St. John’s first 15 points.
Sellers and Mitchell helped St. John’s persevere without them.
Sellers had 15 of his points, including three three-pointers, before the break and Mitchell did a lot of ballhandling and had four points, three rebounds and three assists.
“[Ibine Ayo] was great for us tonight when he came in, just his intensity, his effort, just how hard he played,” Mitchell said.
“He was big for us tonight. Having that depth, having guys come in ready to play, it’s big for us.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
