St. John’s weathered the storm. And then poured it on. After the Red Storm’s first-half foul trouble allowed cellar-dwelling Marquette to keep things close, St. John’s surged in the second half to a 92-68 victory at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins combine d for 25 second-half points and 12 second-half rebounds after spending most of the first half on the bench with two fouls apiece. Ejiofor scored 15 of his 22 points after halftime. He finished the game 8-of-11 from the field with seven rebounds and three assists. Hopkins finished with 12 points and eight rebounds after totaling two points and failing to corral a rebound in only two first-half minutes. And Oziyah Sellers led St. John’s with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-9 on 3-pointers, in 35 minutes. All of that helped St. John’s (12-5; 5-1 vs. Big East) turn a six-point halftime lead into a 24-point victory over Marquette (6-12; 1-6 vs. Big East). The Red Storm got off to a red-hot start, scoring on their first five possessions — including a pair of Sellers 3-pointers — to jump out to a 12-2 lead. But foul trouble prevented St. John’s from piling on. Hopkins picked up his second foul less than three minutes into the game. He subbed out with 17:44 left in the first half and did not return until the start of the second. Ejiofor earned his second foul with 8:40 left before halftime and also did not return until after the break. He played only eight first-half minutes. Sellers kept St. John’s afloat, totaling 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers, in 17 first-half minutes. But the absences of Ejiofor and Hopkins forced head coach Rick Pitino to dig deep into his bench. Eleven players saw the floor for St. John’s in the first half, after which it led, 40-34. St. John’s then outscored Marquette, 52-34, in the second half, including a 13-0 run that gave it a 70-47 lead with less than 7:30 remaining. Do-it-all Dillon Mitchell pitched in with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes. His efforts helped pick up the slack on a night Ian Jackson managed only four points in 18 minutes. St. John’s turned 19 turnovers into 24 points. Beating last-place Marquette was especially important for a St. John’s team that was trying to avoid a second home loss to a lowly Big East opponent. Tuesday’s game was the Red Storm’s first at the Garden since they blew a 10-point second-half lead in a 77-71 loss to Providence on Jan. 3. That game looms large as a Quad 3 loss — the worst defeat on the Red Storm’s résumé. After that loss, Pitino said the Red Storm’s “backs are to the wall very early in the season.” But St. John’s has won three games in a row since then, including the previous two on the road, and trails only UConn in the Big East standings. Next up for St. John’s is a road meeting with Villanova on Saturday night, followed by a bout with No. 25 Seton Hall at the Garden on Jan. 20. ...read more read less