Bashir Ahmed scored 23 points to lead St. John's to an 86-72 victory over Marquette on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Shamorie Ponds added 17, Marcus LoVett scored 14 and Kassoum Yakwe added 14 for the Red Storm (11-13, 5-6 Big East). St. John's made 10 of 24 3-point attempts while shooting 48.5 percent from the floor.

The Golden Eagles (14-8, 5-5) got 21 points from Andrew Rowsey and 14 from Sam Hauser. Marquette made four of 14 3-point tries but shot just 37.1 percent overall and gave up 18 points off 17 turnovers.

Marquette got a scare when Markus Howard sustained a left leg injury with 7:48 left in the first half. Howard was examined on the team's bench, then retreated to the locker room for treatment but returned to action with 2:03 remaining before halftime.

Howard hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and Hauser added three. However, the Golden Eagles turned the ball over twice times in the final minute, allowing St. John's to close the half on a 7-0 run and take a 45-37 lead into the locker room.

The Golden Eagles opened the second half with four 3-pointers, but LoVett and Ahmed combined to score 11 straight points, putting St. John's up by 17 with 11:53 to play.

The Golden Eagles finally snapped the drought on a fastbreak layup from Haanif Cheatham, sparking a 10-0 run of their own to make it a 68-61 game with 8:45 to play, but Marquette wouldn't get closer than eight the rest of the way.

St. John's had lost two of its previous three and six of eight. Marquette dropped its second in a row.