Senior forward Justin Brownlee has scored a team-best seven points for the No. 4-seeded St. John's Red Storm, who lead the No. 5 Syracuse Orange, 37-32, at halftime of a 2011 Big East Tournament quarterfinals game at Madison Square Garden. The winner advances to play No. 9 Connecticut Huskies in the semifinals Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
The Orange (25-6 overall and No. 11 in both college basketball polls) jumped out to a nine-point, 14-5, advantage in the game's first six minutes. St. John's (21-10 and No. 17 in the AP poll/No. 18 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll) responded with a 17-6 run, which included senior guard Dwight Hardy's seven first-half points, to take a 22-20 lead with 7:27 to play. The Red Storm held onto the lead by forcing Syracuse (12 first-half turnovers) into a lot of bad decisions on offense.
Freshman guard Dion Waiters has netted a team-best eight-bench points for Syracuse, which shot 3-of-10 from 3-point land and just 10-of-27 (37.0 percent) from the floor. Sophomore guard Brandon Triche has chipped in with seven points, while freshman center Fab Melo has tallied six points and four rebounds.
Senior forward Sean Evans has seven points for St. John's, which defeated Rutgers, 65-63, Wednesday in the second round.