No. 12 St. John's gets signature win after defeating No. 11 Marquette

Getting up close to the top 10 in the rankings without knocking off a ranked team during the season is quite an impressive feat that the Red Storm had managed to do.

Rick Pitino's squad improved to 20-3 on the year and moved into sole possession of first place in the Big East. St. John's is on its first nine game winning streak since the 1984-85 season when they reached the Final Four.

Kadary Richmond led the way with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. The double-double for Richmond was his first of the season.

Zuby Ejiofor (13 points,13 rebounds) and RJ Luis Jr. (17 points, 11 rebounds) also finished with double-doubles.

Marquette was plagued by poor three-point (32%) and free-throw (66.7%) shooting. A usually sound team in both of those aspects were bitten by one of its worst performances in the year.

Chase Ross led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 16 points. Kam Jones scored 15 points, 12 of those coming in the second half.

St. John's win sets up a massive conference showdown Friday night when they travel to Gampel Pavillion and take on No. 19 UConn Huskies.