Kolek rallies Marquette past pesky St. John’s in OT

NEW YORK — Tyler Kolek scored all 19 of his points after halftime, including the tiebreaking free throws with 15.8 seconds left, and No. 6 Marquette rallied for a 72-70 overtime victory over feisty St. John’s in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

Olivier-maxence Prosper added 16 points, several on highlight-reel dunks, and the top-seeded Golden Eagles (26-6) advanced to play 11th-ranked and fourthseeded Uconn or fifth-seeded Providence in the semifinals Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Marquette has won seven straight and 12 of 13, reaching the Big East semifinals for the fourth time overall and first since 2019.

But this one was anything but easy.

The Golden Eagles, who trailed by 14 late in the first half, had to turn their defensive intensity way up to avoid an upset. They escaped when Posh Alexander’s good look at a 3-pointer for St. John’s glanced off the front rim at the buzzer.

Dylan Addae-wusu and David Jones each scored 16 to lead eighth-seeded St. John’s (18-15), which beat No. 9 seed Butler 76-63 in the first round Wednesday.

Late Wednesday Villanova 80, Georgetown 48: Cam Whitmore had 19 points and 10 rebounds in Villanova’s first-round win. Justin Moore scored 13 points with four 3-pointers for the sixth-seeded Wildcats (17-15), who took on third-seeded Creighton in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Depaul 66, Seton Hall 65: Umoja Gibson made three free throws with 3.9 seconds left and Nick Ongenda blocked a layup at the buzzer to lift the Blue Demons. Tenth-seeded Depaul faced second-seeded Xavier in Thursday’s semifinals.