St. John's 77, Butler 52: JaKarr Sampson scored a career-high 23 points and the host Red Storm used a 20-0 run to roll to their sixth consecutive victory.

Jamal Branch added 10 points and Orlando Sanchez added seven and 11 rebounds in place of injured center Chris Obekpa as St. John's (18-9, 8-6 Big East) rode a dominant second half to its ninth win in 10 games and a season sweep of Butler.

Khyle Marshall had 16 points and seven rebounds - all in the first half - for the Bulldogs (12-14, 2-12), who tumbled to their fifth straight defeat. Kellen Dunham had 13 points and Alex Barlow chipped in 11 for Butler, which led by three points at halftime but shot 7-for-36 after the break.

A follow-up dunk by Marshall at the halftime buzzer sent the Bulldogs into the locker room holding a 33-30 edge, but the Red Storm opened the second half with a 14-2 burst to open a 44-35 lead on Sanchez's 3-point play with 14:21 remaining. The Bulldogs missed nine of their first 10 shots after intermission to allow the Red Storm to seize control.

Barlow's four-point play briefly stemmed the momentum and cut the deficit to five points, but Branch buried a 3-pointer to push the lead to 53-43 and ignite a run of 20 unanswered points. Sampson scored eight points during the decisive spurt as St. John's held the Bulldogs scoreless for more than 8 1/2 minutes.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Obekpa, who leads the Big East with 3.2 blocks per game, suffered a sprained right ankle and bone bruise in Monday's practice and is expected to be sidelined 10-14 days. ... Barlow reached doubled figures in a season-high three straight games and is averaging 11.7 points in that span. ... Sampson also grabbed eight rebounds to help St. John's dominate the glass 51-30.