No. 12 St. John’s scored its most significant win of the season to date on Tuesday night when it rode suffocating defense and relentless rebounding to a 70-64 Big East victory over 11th-ranked Marquette before 16,521 at the Garden.

St. John’s will not play the stylish basketball that has otherwise limited, even bogged down the game at the collegiate and professional levels. No, this is a throwback that most New Yorkers of an older generation fell in love with 30 years ago.