Men's Hoops Downs Hampton

Dec. 20, 1999

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Brian Wardle scored 25 points to lead Marquette to a 67-52 victory over Hampton Monday night.

Jon Harris had a career-high 15 points for the Golden Eagles and John Cliff added 14 as Marquette (5-3) of Conference USA snapped a two-game losing streak.

Marseilles Brown had 16 points and LeSean Howard added eight for Hampton (0-5) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. It was Hampton's first game since a 102-46 loss to Virginia Dec. 10.

Brown, Howard and Mohammed Woni, who are all transfers, made their first starts for Hampton.

Trailing 25-19 at the half, the Pirates outscored Marquette 12-7 early in the second half and pulled to within 32-31 on Brown's layup after a Golden Eagles turnover with 12:41 left.

But Harris and Wardle stopped Hampton from getting any closer, as they led a 17-2 run to take command.

Harris sandwiched a layup and a shot off the glass around Wardle's 3-pointer to start the surge. Cliff capped the run with his second 3-pointer in the half that gave Marquette a 49-33 lead with 7:28 left.

The lead never slipped below double-digits the rest of the way.

Marquette, which had not played since a four-point overtime loss to Baylor nine days earlier, opened with a 23-12 run that allowed Golded Eagles coach Tom Crean to freely substitute.

During the surge, Wardle had six points and Harris added eight, including a layup that made it 23-12.

The Pirates got five points from Brown in a 7-2 run to trail 25-19 at the half despite making only nine of 32 shots from the floor.