by By JOHN ROWE, STAFF WRITER, North Jersey Media Group , The Record

That point was driven home Wednesday afternoon as 13th-seeded St. John?s was eliminated from the Big East tournament by fifth-seeded Marquette, 74-45, in a game that was even more one-sided than the final score indicates.

"We played like a tired team," said Red Storm coach Norm Roberts. "We hung our heads a little when we shouldn?t have."

They had good reason. The first half was a nightmare. St. John?s made all of three field goals, shot 13.6 percent and trailed, 38-10, after breaking the 30-year tournament?s futility record, which Georgetown set when it scored 14 second-half points against Seton Hall in 2001.

The Red Storm were so bad that maybe they should have lured former great Chris Mullin out of the stands. Even in his post-playing days, he could have scored more than 10 points in a half.

Mullin probably was the only St. John?s supporter who wasn?t booing when Marquette scored 16 straight points to up its lead to 31-10. When Justin Burrell made a short jumper to stop the run, the fans responded with mock cheers.

"The shots weren?t dropping," said D.J. Kennedy, shaking his head.

St. John?s has little time to feel sorry for itself. The planning for next season starts immediately when you?ve finished 16-17 and haven?t been to the NCAA tournament in seven years.

All five starters will be back, plus Anthony Mason Jr. should be awarded an extra year of eligibility after breaking his foot in the third game this season. Plus Roberts has two highly regarded recruits and is alive in the recruiting sweepstakes for Brooklyn sensation Lance Stephenson.

"Today was their day," Roberts said of Marquette, which received a game-high 20 points from Wesley Matthews and had a 41-22 rebounding advantage. "I?m not going to let one game affect my thinking. We?ve had a decent season. Nobody is going to tell me that things aren?t bright. We?re headed in the right direction."

Once they got over this bump in the road,

Providence 83, DePaul 74: The eighth-seeded Friars survived a shootout with Will Walker and Dar Tucker of DePaul to move one win closer to an NCAA tournament berth.

Providence (19-12), which plays top-seeded Louisville at noon today in the quarterfinals, trailed for much of the second half until it ran off 11 points in a row to regain the lead, 70-62, with 3:36 remaining.

The 16th-seeded Blue Demons never recovered, despite 31 points by Walker and 30 by Tucker, the first time in tournament history that a team had two 30-point scorers. Providence?s Sharaud Curry (25 points) and Weyinmi Efejuku (23 points) were no slouches.

E-mail: rowe@northjersey.com

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