MILWAUKEE — Saturday at Providence, St. John’s had Bryce Hopkins’ back in his emotional return to Friartown.
Four days later, he returned the favor.
With the 17th-ranked Johnnies struggling and Zuby Ejiofor not himself, Hopkins came through.
The senior forward tallied team-highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds, leading St. John’s to its 12th straight win, 76-70 over Marquette, at Fiserv Forum.
Hopkins scored 10 points in a game-turning 17-5 run, after St. John’s had fallen behind by six. The defense turned it on after Marquette outscored the Red Storm, 21-6, to start the second half. Over an 8:01 stretch, the Golden Eagles managed just five points.
They were outscored by St. John’s by 12 over the final 11:55, similar to the Red Storm’s win on Saturday over Providence.
In that span, St. John’s turned a six-point deficit into a six-point lead. With the win, they moved into first place all alone atop the Big East, after No. 5 Connecticut was upset by Creighton at home.
Marquette did get within two late, but Ejiofor sank two clutch free throws with 21.7 seconds to go and Hopkins secured the defensive rebound on the other end, and hit another two at the charity stripe.
Oziyah Sellers scored 12 points off the bench and Ejiofor had 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Joson Sanon added nine and Ian Jackson had eight.
Nigel James Jr. scored 24 points for Marquette and Royce Parham added 13.
St. John’s (21-5, 14-1) methodically built an early nine-point lead and the differential was the same at halftime. Entering the game having shot 27.3 percent from 3-point range in their last four games, the Johnnies had it going from deep in the first half, shooting 6-for-14.
They also shot a blistering 54.8 percent from the field.
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A high number of turnovers, seven, kept Marquette somewhat close. Hopkins was the best Johnnie, tallying team-highs of 11 points and seven rebounds. Foul trouble limited Mitchell and Darling to a combined 17 minutes, and neither player scored. Ejiofor was quiet, notching just a single point.
His backup, Ruben Prey, produced four points and two rebounds in extended action.
The bench was St. John’s biggest advantage, to the tune of a 21-9 edge. Lefteris Liotopoulos scored seven points in four minutes, giving the offense a jolt.
James fueled an 11-0 Marquette run to start the second half, as the Golden Eagles went ahead for the first time since the early going.
After five empty possessions to start the period, St. John’s finally got on the board with an Ejiofor basket — his first field goal of the game. But on the next possession, the Red Storm turned it over, an issue up to that point.
Marquette and James kept coming, and when the freshman dropped in a scoop layup, St. John’s trailed by six with 11:49 left. The Red Storm had been outscored, 21-6, in the second half, and nothing was going right.
Pitino called a timeout. St. John’s woke up, reeling off the next nine points in the span of 1:35. They never trailed again.
