No. 13 Men's Basketball Runs Away From Appalachian State

Dec 7, 2002

MILWAUKEE (AP) - No. 13 Marquette eclipsed the 100-point barrier for the first time this season Saturday, but coach Tom Crean was thinking about defense.

Crean credited the Golden Eagles' defense with a 27-3 run that spanned both halves and sparked a 101-78 victory over Appalachian State.

With 2:52 left in the first half, Marquette (5-1) held the Mountaineers (2-2) to one free throw and one field goal in the next 8:32 to turn a 34-34 tie into a 61-37 lead.

"That's a great thing for this team to realize," Crean said. "That is what we have to be better at every day. We have to guard, we have to rebound. I thought we defended really well, and it turned into a lot of points."

I thought we defended really well, and it turned into a lot of points.

Head coach Tom Crean

The Golden Eagles limited the Mountaineers to 38.2 percent shooting and outrebounded them 45-26.

Dwyane Wade led the Golden Eagles with 31 points. Robert Jackson, Scott Merritt and Travis Diener all recorded double-doubles as Marquette recovered from a 21-point defeat at Notre Dame on Monday.

Johnathan Mitchell led Appalachian State with 22 points, and Shawn Hall finished with 20.

Hall scored 16 points on five 3-pointers in the game's first 17 minutes as Appalachian State came back from an 8-0 deficit to lead the game by 32-28 in the first half.

The game was Hall's first college game in Milwaukee, where he grew up.

Robert Jackson puts up a shot in front of Appalachian State's Josh Shehan during the first half.

"Sometimes the kids get excited in a bad way (at home), and sometimes they get excited in a good way," said Appalachian State coach Houston Fancher. "Obviously, he was excited in a good way there in the first half."

Wade started Marquette's surge by leading a 9-1 run to close the first half. He had a layup, assisted on a 3-point play by Jackson and added two free throws and a breakaway dunk.

Wade scored four more points and assisted on Merritt's basket as Marquette scored the first 11 points of the second half for a 54-35 lead.

Hall made a jumper for the Mountaineers, but the Golden Eagles ran off another seven points for a 61-37 lead, their largest of the game.

Jackson scored 25 points and had 13 rebounds, Merritt had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Diener scored 10 points and made 10 assists.

Crean, however, didn't pay much attention to the offensive stats.

"I'm more concerned with the fact that we gave up 20 (points) to two different people," he said. "We've got to continue to correct that."