Johnnies jolted by lowly DePaul
MARIN MARIC scored 25 points with 11 rebounds to help DePaul pick up its first Big East Conference win, upending St. John’s 9174 in Queens on Saturday.
Max Strus added 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Demons (8-8, 1-3) who had a 46-30 rebounding edge over the Red Storm (10-6, 0-4). Tre’Darius McCallum had 16 points and nine rebounds and Eli Cain chipped in 11 points.
A tip shot by Cain midway through the first half gave De Paul a 19-15 lead and they led the rest of the way, building to a 42-38 advantage at the break.
St. John’s got as close as 51-46 early in the second half but Maric sank a layup and 3-pointer backto-back after that to help stretch the Blue Demons lead to 58-46 with 14:10 to play and De Paul cruised from there.
Bashir Ahmed scored 21 points with seven rebounds for the Red Storm, who have lost four straight heading into a highly anticipated matchup Tuesday with Georgetown that pits coaches Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing against one another again.
SETON HALL 90, BUTLER 87: Khadeen Carrington scored 29 points, Angel Delgado had 28 points and 15 rebounds and No. 21 Seton Hall rallied from an 11-point deficit to defeat host Butler to win its fifth straight game.
With 1:08 left in the game, Carrington pushed the ball up the floor and drove the lane for the go-ahead basket to make it 84-82. Butler’s Kelan Martin missed a jumper with 13 seconds remaining and sent Seton Hall to the foul line after the Pirates grabbed the miss. Seton Hall (14-2, 3-0 Big East) sealed the win at the foul line during the final 10 seconds.
Martin finished with 27 points for Butler (12-5, 2-2). Kamar Baldwin scored 14 points for the Bulldogs, including a 3-pointer with about 2 seconds left that pulled Butler back to 88-87. Henry Baddley also finished with 14. The Pirates’ largest lead of the game was just four points during a first half in which they trailed often.
STONY BROOK 63, HARTFORD 61: Tyrell Sturdivant knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with five seconds left to send visiting Stony Brook to a victory over Hartford. —AP