Providence 74, St. John’s 57: LaDontae Henton led the way with 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Friars began the defense of their Big East tournament title by knocking off St. John’s in the quarterfinals in New York.

Kris Dunn collected 17 points and 11 assists while Ben Bentil added 14 points and a career-high 13 boards for No. 4 seed Providence (22-10), which will face top-seeded Villanova in the semifinals on Friday. Tyler Harris scored 15 points off the bench for the Friars, who dominated the glass 49-36.

Rysheed Jordan went 11-of-16 from the free-throw line en route to 18 points for St. John’s (21-11), which had won four of five coming in. Phil Greene IV scored nine points while D’Angelo Harrison was held to seven on 3-of-15 shooting for the Red Storm, who shot 31 percent from the field.

Henton and Harris scored four points apiece and Dunn added three assists in a 10-0 run that put Providence in front 61-40 with eight minutes left. Greene nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 11-2 run for St. John’s, but the Friars ended a field-goal drought of over five minutes with back-to-back layups and put away the Red Storm at the free-throw line.

St. John’s scored the first seven points of the game but went the next 10 minutes without a field goal as Providence surged ahead 28-11. The lead reached 18 points before the Red Storm cut the deficit to 40-27 at the break, and Harrison’s layup made it a 42-34 gap 2 1/2 minutes into the second half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Henton (2,031) passed Eric Murdock (2,021) for third place on Providence’s all-time scoring list and needs 15 points to pass Jimmy Walker for second. … Jordan took a hard fall onto his wrist under the basket in the first half but went to the locker room to get the wrist taped and returned to the game. … Providence went 6-of-12 from 3-point range while St. John’s struggled to 6-of-21.