NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Marquette’s Kam Jones scored 18 points, David Joplin provided six of his 14 points in overtime and nationally ranked No. 10 Marquette survived a challenge from Villanova to prevail 71-65 in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night.
The third-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8) advanced to face seventh-seeded Providence in the semis despite being without Tyler Kolek, last season’s Big East Player of the Year, due to an oblique injury.
Stevie Mitchell put up 15 points, Chase Ross scored 11 and Joplin added a team-high eight rebounds for Marquette, which had to play five extra minutes to pull out the win after a would-be game-winning shot was waved off.
Eric Dixon had 19 points and 11 rebounds for sixth-seeded Villanova (18-15), which put up a fight one night after barely escaping last-place DePaul. Mark Armstrong tallied 15 points, TJ Bamba had 12 points and Justin Moore finished with four points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
With the score tied at 58 and 2.8 seconds left in regulation, Marquette had an inbounds under its basket and spent just half a second to get it past halfcourt before using a timeout. Ross then inbounded to Oso Ighodaro at the foul line, and Ighodaro bounced it behind him to Jones driving down the left side.
Jones’ floater hit high off the glass and rolled in. But Marquette’s celebration was premature — officials ruled upon review that the ball had not completely left Jones’ hand when the clock hit zeroes.
Joplin had an early jumper and a 3-pointer for Marquette’s first five points of overtime, but Villanova tied the score each time with free throws. Ross’ open 3-pointer finally put Marquette ahead for good.
Ighodaro’s only field goal of the night, off a set play under the basket with 18 seconds remaining, sealed the victory.
Dixon’s short jumper put the Wildcats on top 29-28 at halftime. Marquette opened the second half on an 11-2 run, with Mitchell getting to the rim for three layups.
Jones’ 3-pointer made it 45-36 Marquette with 12:33 left, which is where Villanova started its charge. Dixon knocked down a straightaway 3-pointer, and before long Bamba connected on two triples to cut the deficit to one.
Moore — Villanova’s second-leading scorer — had missed his first six shots of the night but made his seventh to put the Wildcats on top 51-50 with 7:07 to go.
Jones went coast-to-coast to start an 8-2 run for Marquette to lead 58-53 at the 3:15 mark. But Armstrong scored in the paint, and Bamba was fouled on a 3-point shot and he made all three free throws to tie the score with 1:50 left.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media