Markus Howard scored 30 points on 8-for-15 shooting, and No. 23 Marquette rolled to an 86-54 win over St. John's in a Big East tournament quarterfinal matchup Thursday evening in New York City.

Howard also grabbed seven rebounds and dished four assists for Marquette (24-8), the tournament's second seed. Sacar Anim (13 points) and Sam Hauser (10) also scored in double digits for the Golden Eagles.

Justin Simon scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead seventh-seeded St. John's (21-12), which lost for the fourth time in five games. Shamorie Ponds finished with 13 points.

Marquette advanced to the semifinal round, where it will face third-seeded Seton Hall. The Pirates topped sixth-seeded Georgetown 73-57 on Friday night.

The Golden Eagles snapped a four-game skid and avenged a Feb. 5 home loss against St. John's.

St. John's pulled within 43-37 with 14:56 to go in the second half after back-to-back dunks on the fast break. Simon zipped a pass to Mustapha Heron for a two-handed dunk, and Simon threw down a thunderous dunk two possessions later on a feed from Ponds.

Marquette called a 30-second timeout to regroup after Simon's dunk. The timeout paid immediate dividends for the Golden Eagles, who responded with a 23-2 run to grab a commanding 66-39 advantage with 9:34 to play.

The outburst proved to be too much to overcome for St. John's, which shot 32.8 percent (20 of 61) from the field. Marquette shot 50.9 percent (29 of 57).

Marquette built a 38-26 halftime lead behind a team-leading 13 points from Howard. The Golden Eagles gained their first double-digit lead of the game when Hauser drained a 3-pointer with 8:18 to go in the half.

Simon had nine first-half points to pace St. John's. He trimmed the deficit to 11 points when he converted a three-point play with 2:45 left, but the Red Storm managed only one free throw for the rest of the session.

Howard took the court for the first time since being named as the Big East Player of the Year. The junior, who entered the Big East tourney averaging 25.0 points per game, is the first Marquette player to take home the honor since Jae Crowder in the 2011-12 campaign.

--Field Level Media