St. John's beats Butler 76-63 in Big East first round

NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Soriano scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead St. John's over Butler 76-63 on Wednesday in the first round of the Big East Conference Tournament.

Eight-seeded St. John's takes on top-seeded Marquette in Thursday's quarterfinals.

AJ Storr was 4 of 7 shooting and 6 of 8 from the free throw line to add 15 points for the Red Storm (18-14). Posh Alexander recorded 13 points and was 5-of-10 shooting, 3 for 7 from distance.

The ninth-seeded Bulldogs (14-17) were led by Simas Lukosius, who had 23 points and three steals. Jalen Thomas added 20 points, six rebounds and two steals for Butler. Myles Tate had 10 points.

St. John's led 44-29 at the break.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.