Ahmed scores career-high 23, St. John's tops Marquette 86-72

NEW YORK (AP) — Bashir Ahmed had a career-high 23 points and St. John's made all six free throws and a layup in the final 2:07 to beat Marquette 86-72 on Wednesday night.

Shamorie Ponds added 18 points, Marcus LoVett scored 17 and Kassoum Yakwe had 14 to help the Red Storm (11-13, 5-6 Big East).

St. John's had a 10-3 run to build its lead to 78-64 with 4:44 left. The Golden Eagles (14-8, 5-5) answered with a pair of 3-pointers to get within eight but they would get no closer.

Andrew Rowsey had 21 points and Sam Hauser scored 14 for Marquette, which led for much of the first half until the Red Storm took the lead for good at 35-33 on Federico Mussini's 3-pointer.

St. John's pulled away with 13 straight points capped at 68-51 on LoVett's layup with 12:08 to go. Marquette answered with 10 straight points.