No. 6 Marquette 72, St. John's 70 (OT)

With the regular-season champs in danger of a quick knockout at the Big East Tournament, Tyler Kolek wouldn't let it happen.

The conference player of the year scored all 19 of his points after halftime, including the tiebreaking free throws with 15.8 seconds left in overtime, and No. 6 Marquette rallied for a 72-70 victory against scrappy St. John's in the 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 UConn in the first semifinal Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The fourth-seeded Huskies held off No. 5 seed Providence, 73-66.

“We faced a lot of adversity today, and the guys stared down the adversity. They stayed connected,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said.

Kolek also had nine rebounds, six assists and two steals in his team's largest comeback victory of the season.

“I feel like it’s our resiliency. That’s what we’re about,” Prosper said.

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 in a back-and-forth battle.

“I wouldn’t say we’re inexperienced anymore just because of everything we’ve gone through this year, all the experiences we’ve had, all the close games we’ve won and lost,” said Kolek, a left-handed point guard. “And that’s just made us better. I think coming into the postseason we’re as prepared as we can be.”

The Golden Eagles, who trailed by 14 late in the first half, turned up their defensive intensity 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 overtime buzzer.

Oso Ighodaro had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Marquette, making several key plays down the stretch. Kam Jones added 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

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.

Although the Red Storm have won a Big East Tournament game in six of the past seven years, St. John’s still hasn’t reached the semifinals since winning the school’s third championship in 2000 — even though the event is held on one of its home courts.

Addae-Wusu, a major thorn in Marquette’s side during all three meetings this season, scored nine straight Red Storm points down the stretch and 11 of their last 14 in regulation.

His layup tied it 61-all with 4.6 seconds remaining, aided by a terrific screen from big man Joel Soriano.

Kolek scored seven of Marquette's 11 points in the extra period — five at the free-throw line.

“I thought he took over,” St. John's coach Mike Anderson said.

St. John's was 0 for 7 from the field in OT, getting all nine of its points at the foul line.

Soriano finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for his 25th double-double this season, most in the nation. But he hobbled off with an apparent leg injury with 3.9 seconds to go in OT following a scramble for an offensive rebound, and the senior center wasn't on the floor for the Red Storm's final play.

“What a game. Just proud of our guys,” Anderson said. “The guys are hurting in there right now.”

Kolby King’s career high was five points before the freshman guard scored eight straight off the bench — including a pair of 3s — during a 16-0 run that helped St. John’s open a 34-20 lead late in the first half.

No. 15 Xavier 89, DePaul 84

Jack Nunge had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Colby Jones scored 22 and Xavier needed a late comeback to beat DePaul.

Souley Boum added 16 points for the second-seeded Musketeers (24-8), who trailed by 13 in the second half and led for only 2 1/2 minutes total. They will face Villanova or No. 24 Creighton in the second semifinal Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Umoja Gibson had 22 points and six assists as the 10th-seeded Blue Demons (10-23) gave Xavier all it could handle. Nick Ongenda added 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Caleb Murphy scored 10 off the bench.

DePaul, with no Big East success to speak of since joining the league in 2005, flirted with winning twice in the conference tournament and reaching the semifinals — both for the first time.

But in the end, Xavier's experience and know-how came through down the stretch against a Blue Demons squad that rallied in the waning seconds to stun Seton Hall 66-65 in the first round Wednesday — snapping a 12-game losing streak.

After losing their Big East Tournament opener in each of the previous three years, the Musketeers improved to 7-0 in the quarterfinals of this event.

Xavier trailed by 13 with 14 1/2 minutes left before a 3-pointer by Adam Kunkel got the Musketeers going.

Consecutive baskets by Jones trimmed the deficit to one and Nunge tipped in his own miss with 2:03 remaining to give Xavier its first lead, 81-80, since the first minute of the game.

Jones made a key steal, a floater and another soft shot to help the Musketeers hang on. Boum sank two free throws with 20.8 seconds left to extend the lead to 87-84, and DePaul missed two good looks at the other end.

Nunge sealed it with two more foul shots with 5.8 seconds to go.

Playing with a confidence and efficiency on offense that belied their dreadful record, the Blue Demons made 16 of their first 21 shots from the field — a blistering 76% — to open a 39-26 lead 14 minutes into the game.

Xavier responded with a 7-0 spurt, but DePaul took a 49-40 advantage into halftime behind 69% shooting (including 7 for 10 from 3-point range) and Gibson's 13 points.

Perhaps playing without forward Zach Freemantle is finally catching up with the Musketeers, who have questions to answer on defense looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament. The team’s leading rebounder will miss the postseason after having surgery on his left foot. Xavier is 7-3 since the 6-foot-9 senior went down. He is third on the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game.

No. 24 Creighton 87, Villanova 74

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points, Ryan Nembhard added 17 and No. 24 Creighton defeated Villanova.

The third-seeded Bluejays (21-11) advanced to the semifinals Friday night at Madison Square Garden to face second-seeded and 15th-ranked Xavier. The top four seeds swept the quarterfinals.

Nembhard made three of Creighton's 12 3-pointers, including one from the corner off an offensive rebound that put the Bluejays up 18 with 12:54 left in the second half.

Eric Dixon's 3 for sixth-seeded Villanova (17-16) cut lead to 65-56 with 4:43 left and perked up the Villanova fans at the Garden after a Creighton had dominated the second half.

But Arthur Kaluma responded with a 3 after the Bluejays broke Nova's press to bump the lead back to 12 on the next possession. Kaluma finished with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting

Kalkbrenner completed a three-point play with 3:26 left to make it 73-61 and Creighton cruised from there.

The Wildcats came in having won seven of nine to salvage their first season post-coach Jay Wright.

In need of a championship run in New York to extend their NCAA Tournament streak to 10 appearances, the Wildcats couldn't match up with the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner on the defensive end (9 for 12 from the field) and had a hard time finishing at the rim with him lurking in the paint.

Dixon scored 20 points to lead the Wildcats.

The Bluejays took a 32-23 lead at half behind Kalkbrenner’s 10 points and a personal nine-point run from Trey Alexander, who made three consecutive 3s.

Creighton has played in the last two Big East finals and four overall since joining the conference in 2014 — but the Bluejays have yet to win a title.

Villanova has been the beast of the new Big East, going 18-4 and winning five tournament titles since the conference dropped football and reconfigured.

Against Creighton, Villanova was playing as the lower seed in a Big East Tournament game for the first time since 2013 against Louisville.

Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman scored seven points in 45 seconds early in the second half that opened up the lead to 16 and Villanova never really recovered.

Scheierman hit a 3 from up top and was fouled by Dixon for what turned out to be a four-point play, and then made another 3 in transition to make it 44-28 with 16:34 left.

Scheierman, the South Dakota State transfer, finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.