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Villanova Rallies to Defeat Marquette

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MILWAUKEE – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Tyler Perkins led Villanova with 22 points – scoring 11 of those during a late second half run over the final six minutes of play – helping the Wildcats edge past Marquette at home on Wednesday night.  Royce Parham added a career-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
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Villanova 77, Marquette 74 – Box Score
  • Tyler Perkins had 22 points and eight rebounds as Villanova rallied late at home against Marquette
  • There were three ties and four lead changes over the final 20 minutes of play.
  • The Wildcats made 13 3-pointers in the game, including six over the final eight and a half minutes of regulation
  • Marquette led by nine points with 6:13 to go after a Ben Gold corner 3-pointer made it 66-57.  That shot keyed a stretch where both teams combined to connect from beyond on the arc on seven straight possessions.
  • Nova tied it up at 66-66 with 4:20 left after a trio of three-balls – two from Perkins and one from Matthew Hodge.
  • The Golden Eagles used the 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions – from Gold and Chase Ross – to lead 72-66 with 3:15 to go.
  • The Wildcats closed the game on an 11-2 push, going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
  • Nova led by as many as 11 points, holding a 20-9 advantage at the 10:14 mark in the first half.  The Golden Eagles trimmed that deficit to four points – 36-32 – by halftime.
  • Marquette used a 23-7 run midway through the second half to go from trailing by seven to gaining a nine-point lead.
  • Acaden Lewis finished with 15 points, five assists, and three steals for Villanova.  Hodge finished with 13 points, while Duke Brennan added 10 points and eight boards.
  • Royce Parham poured in a career-high 26 points for Marquette to go with 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.  Parham made 8-of-9 shots from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
  • Adrian Stevens posted his second straight game with a season-best 18 points.  Nigel James Jr. dished out six assists.
Of Note:
  • Villanova’s Tyler Perkins has tallied 15 or more points in each of the last eight games.
  • Over the span, the 6-4 junior is averaging 18.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals while connecting on better than 40% from the perimeter (21-52).
  • Marquette’s Royce Parham posted one of the most efficient scoring performances in the BIG EAST this season, tallying 26 points on only nine field goal attempts.
  • The only other player to score at least 25 on nine or fewer FGA: teammate Chase Ross.  Ross tallied 27 points on eight shots against Central Michigan (Nov. 22).

Marquette Rallies to Beat Xavier

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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.

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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

Marquette Survives, Advances

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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.

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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

Big East and Big Tuesday Wins

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – In Tuesday’s BIG EAST action, Marquette and Seton Hall earned their first league victories. The stories of the game, however, were hardly alike.

Marquette set a school record for the largest margin of victory against a ranked team with its 88-56 win against 16th-ranked Providence. Seton Hall, after an 0-2 league start against ranked opponents, pulled away in the second half to win 71-56 at Butler.

The Marquette Golden Eagles (9-6, 1-3 BIG EAST) raced to a 20-6 lead, then used a 20-0 run to build a 42-22 lead by halftime. Justin Lewis finished with a career-high 23 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Oso Ighodaro continued his strong play off the bench with 16 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes. Al Durham scored a team-high 16 points for the Friars (13-2, 3-1 BE), who had their eight-game winning streak end.

The Seton Hall Pirates (10-3, 1-2 BE) welcomed back center Ike Obiagu, who missed the last three games. He had eight points, two rebounds and two blocked shots in 28 minutes. Jared Rhoden scored a team-high 17 points. The Hall held the edge in bench points (16-0), rebounds (36-25) and made 18-of-19 free throws. The Pirates’ bench has not been outscored this season. Bryce Golden led four Bulldogs (8-5, 1-1 BE) in double figures with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field.

Wednesday’s schedule also shows two games. FS1 will telecast DePaul at St. John’s at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by Creighton at Villanova at 8:30 p.m.

The first game features a matchup of DePaul’s Javon Freeman-Liberty and St. John’s Julian Champagnie, who are both averaging a league-leading 20.3 points per game. Creighton and No. 19 Villanova already are meeting for the second time this season. The Bluejays beat the Wildcats 79-59 in Omaha on Dec. 17.