The Big East is now 11-1 on the week after a 4-0 night on Wednesday. The Cincinnati Bearcats got the only comfortable victory. The St. John's Red Storm, Seton Hall Pirates and DePaul Blue Demons all won close games.
St. John's 66, Texas-Pan American 61: St. John's was playing their first game with Amir Garrett in the lineup. He had three points and two rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. God`sgift Achiuwa and D`Angelo Harrison led the Red Storm to the victory. Achiuwa shot 10-14 from the field (and even hit a three-pointer) for a team-high 22 points. He also pulled down 9 rebounds, had 2 assists and a block. Harrison had 21 points on 7-13 shooting (3-6 behind the arc) and 7 rebounds. The Red Storm trailed at halftime 32-24. Despite a comeback, St. John's still trailed 61-59 with 58 seconds left. Following a Jared Maree turnover, Harrison nailed a three-pointer to give the Red Storm the lead with 38 seconds to play. Maurice Harkless got a steal and a dunk to extend the lead with 14 seconds to play. Harrison hit two free throws with four seconds left to seal the game.
Seton Hall 69, Dayton 64: Seton Hall is now 10-1 this season. On the road against Dayton they ran into a problem that made this win even more difficult: Herb Pope foul trouble. The Big East's leading scorer and rebounder committed his fourth foul with 10:29 to play. Pope's finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Patrik Auda picked up the slack while Pope was out with a career-high 18 points. He also had 3 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists. Jordan Theodore had another solid game with 14 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. Dayton hung around by making runs at key times. They had the score tied at 56 with under 7 minutes to play. Seton Hall finally wore the Flyers down with a 7-0 run to make it 65-58 with 3:12 remaining. The lead was only three points with 18 seconds remaining but Seton Hall hit 2-4 free throws to close it out.
DePaul 63, Cal Poly 58: DePaul had a 28-21 lead at halftime. The Mustangs were able to keep within striking distance in the second half but never led again after previously having a five-point first half lead. Cal Poly's three-point attempt to tie the game at 61 with under 10 seconds to play was off the mark. Cleveland Melvin secured the rebound and made both of his free throws to seal the victory. Melvin finished the game with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Brandon Young also scored 16 points and had 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal. The 9-3 start for the Blue Demons is their best since the 1999-2000 season.
There are eight Big East basketball games on the schedule tonight: Tulane at No. 1 Syracuse (7 p.m., TV: Time Warner Cable/SNY); Fairfield at No. 9 Connecticut (7 p.m., TV: ESPN3); Memphis at No. 16 Georgetown (7 p.m., TV: ESPN2); American at Villanova (7 p.m., TV: None); NJIT at Rutgers (7:30 p.m., TV: None); Missouri St at West Virginia (8 p.m., TV: ESPN3); South Florida at Southern Miss (8 p.m., TV: None); Milwaukee at No. 10 Marquette (9 p.m., TV: ESPN3)