NEW YORK — Eric Devendorf had a simple explanation for why he and his Syracuse teammates turned things around in a technical-filled second half against Seton Hall.

"It's our home floor, really, and when somebody knocks down our teammate or gets in the face of our teammate, we're going to be there to help him and that was the case tonight," he said. "So I guess they made a mistake."

It looks like they did.

Devendorf scored all 19 of his points in the second half of the 18th-ranked Orange's 89-74 victory over Seton Hall last night in the second round of the Big East tournament.

He scored 16 points after two sets of double technical fouls were called, one on him when he and Eugene Harvey of Seton Hall made contact with each other after an intentional foul for excessive contact was called on Brandon Walters of the Pirates.

Devendorf hit a 3 right after he was assessed the technical and that started a 17-3 run that gave Syracuse control for good.

"It felt good," he said of the second of his five 3s. "It was a 'close your yap,' something like that. It felt good to get going in the second half."

The sixth-seeded Orange (24-8) will face third-seeded and third-ranked Connecticut in the quarterfinals tonight.

Jeremy Hazell had 27 points for the Pirates (17-15).

NO. 21 MARQUETTE 74, ST. JOHN'S 45: Wesley Matthews scored 20 points and the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8) routed the Red Storm (16-17) to advance to today's quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament against fourth-seeded and 10th-ranked Villanova at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Boston U coach fired: Dennis Wolff has been fired after 15 seasons as head basketball coach at Boston University. Boston University finished at 17-13 this season, bringing Wolff's record to 247-197 since he took over the team for the 1994-95 season.