NEW YORK – Marquette’s Kam Jones scored 28 points, including the go-ahead basket with 1:16 remaining, as the No. 25 Golden Eagles rallied for an 89-87 victory over Xavier in the Big East quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.
Marquette will face St. John’s in the first of a Friday night semifinals doubleheader at Madison Square Garden.
Chase Ross and Stevie Mitchell added 16 apiece for the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (23-9), who advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season. David Joplin chipped in 14 as Marquette shot 61.3 percent in the second half and 48.5 percent overall.
Ryan Conwell scored a career-high 38 points by hitting 13 of 18 shots and seven 3s, but fourth-seeded Xavier (21-11) saw a seven-game winning streak stopped. Zach Freemantle added 15 and Dailyn Swain 11 as Xavier shot 52.6 percent.
Jones made 11 of 22 shots and hit five 3-pointers to help the Golden Eagles move into a semifinal matchup with top-seeded St. John’s. No shot was bigger than the one that gave Marquette the lead for good at 81-80 after it trailed by 14 in the opening minutes of the second half.
After Conwell hit a 3 over Ben Gold with 1:36 left, Jones got the ball in the paint. He made a move around Conwell and converted the difficult layup.
Marquette followed Jones’ clutch hoop by getting a major defensive stop when Ross stole the ball from Freemantle in the middle of the paint. Jones fell down in the paint but was able to pass to Joplin, who pushed the lead to 84-80 with a 3-pointer from the right side with 26.1 seconds.
Xavier was within 84-82 when Swain hit a layup with 26 seconds left. After Gold split two free throws, Conwell sank two at the line with seven seconds left to make it a one-point game.
After avoiding a five-second violation on the inbounds, Mitchell got two free throws to roll in with six seconds left. Conwell missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with three seconds left and Ross sank two free throws to clinch it.
Late in the first half, Dante Maddox Jr.’s corner 3 gave the Musketeers their first 10-point lead. Conwell’s transition 3 pushed the lead to 46-34 with 89 seconds left and Xavier held a 46-36 edge by halftime.
Conwell racked up 10 points in the opening 4:47 of the second half to help Xavier make it 58-48. Marquette roared back with a 15-4 run to take a 63-62 lead with 10:26 remaining on Jones’ 3-pointer.
Xavier took a 68-65 lead on a difficult hook shot in the lane by Freemantle with 8:26 left. Marquette regained the lead when Jones sank an open 3 from the left side to make it 72-71 with 5:31 left to set up the dramatic finish.
– Field Level Media