ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Marcus Lovett scored 22 points and St. John's defeated DePaul 79-73 on Sunday to start 2-0 in Big East play for the first time since 2010-11.

The Red Storm (8-7, 2-0) followed up their win over No. 13 Butler by beating the Blue Demons (7-8, 0-2), who lost by three points to top-ranked Villanova in their Big East opener.

Shamorie Ponds added 15 points and Bashir Ahmed four 3-pointers and 14 points. Darien Williams had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Eli Cain scored 18 points, including all of DePaul's in a 7-2 run to get the Blue Demons within 68-66 with 3:19 left but St. John's responded with its own 7-2 spurt capped by two Lovett free throws for a seven-point lead with 43 seconds remaining.

St. John's took the lead for good at 66-59 with 5 1/2 minutes left on a 7-0 run via Tariq Owens' 3-point play and four Williams free throws.