| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- DePaul can have the head of Marquette's
mascot. The Golden Eagles got something much more important.
Cordell Henry scored 21 points, including two key 3-pointers in
the final 7:07 Wednesday night, as Marquette held off DePaul (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP) 69-60.
It was Marquette's first road victory over a ranked team in
three seasons.
Oluoma Nnamaka scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half,
while Brian Wardle added 18 for Marquette (9-5, 2-1 Conference
USA).
Preseason All-America Quentin Richardson had 17 points for
DePaul, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Kerry
Hartfield and Steven Hunter each had 10 for the Blue Demons (11-4,
2-1), whose other three losses were to Top 25 teams.
The Golden Eagles hadn't beaten a Top 25 team on the road since
Jan. 7, 1997, when it upset then-No. 4 Iowa State 67-64 in Ames.
Marquette beat then-No. 10 Cincinnati at the Conference USA
tournament in March 1997, but that was at a neutral site.
Marquette looked well on its way to the upset, taking a 36-26
lead at the half after a very lackadaisical showing from the Blue
Demons. But DePaul wasn't about to let the game go that easily. As
its mascot paraded the head of Marquette's Golden Eagle mascot
around the All-State Arena on a Q-tip, the real Blue Demons went on
a scoring tear.
Richardson's 3-pointer sparked a 13-2 run, and Marquette went
almost six minutes without a field goal, as DePaul tied the game at
44 with 11:38 left. But Nnamaka answered with two field goals, and
then Henry hit a 3 to put Marquette back up 51-46.
The Blue Demons got within 57-55 with 2:58 left after
back-to-back layups from Hartfield and a three-point play from
Rashon Burno, who got shoved so hard he went flying into the
cheerleaders.
But then Henry, Richardson's teammate at Chicago's Whitney Young
High School, came through big again. He hit a 3, and Nnamaka
followed with two field goals to put the game away.
Marquette and DePaul were even on the boards with 28.
Scrapping and scraping for every rebound and loose ball, the
Golden Eagles simply outhustled DePaul in the first half. They took
nine more shots (31-22), grabbed more offensive rebounds (7-3) and
attacked every possession as if it was their last as they took a
36-26 halftime lead.
Brian Barone's layup that gave Marquette its biggest lead,
33-24, summed up Marquette's entire first half. He missed a
3-pointer, but hustled inside, grabbed the rebound and put the ball
back up for the layup.
The Blue Demons, meanwhile, looked sloppy and lazy. They turned
the ball over 11 times in the first half alone -- one more than they
had in their entire game against North Carolina-Charlotte.
They made only three field goals in the last 5:23 of the half as
Marquette went on a 13-4 run.
| |
ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Marquette Clubhouse
DePaul Clubhouse
|
