Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Depaul
No. 9 Men's Basketball Downs DePaul, 72-53
3/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2002
MILWAUKEE (AP) - After two straight road losses, Marquette was just happy to be home.
Dwayne Wade scored 16 points and the Golden Eagles capped a 16-0 season at home by beating DePaul 72-53 on Friday night to keep their Conference USA title hopes alive.
Marquette (24-5, 13-3) would become the American Division co-champion if Memphis, the National Division champion, wins Sunday at No. 4 Cincinnati, which is 13-2 in league play.
The Golden Eagles used a 16-0 run to overcome a nine-point deficit in the first half.
After DePaul (9-19, 2-14) opened with five 3-pointers to take the early lead, the Golden Eagles scored their 16 straight points in a span of 5:02 to take a 41-34 halftime lead.
"I thought we did a great job after we settled down," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "We made some shots and got back in the game."
Cordell Henry added 10 points for Marquette, which shot 55 percent (31-56) after losing its last two games.
"We didn't want to go into the conference tournament with three straight losses," Henry said. "It was like a wounded animal. We just wanted to stop the bleeding."
DePaul, which finished with the worst record in C-USA, started 9-of-14 and then went 7-of-40 to finish at 30 percent in the only game Friday involving a ranked team.
"You can't win when you shoot like that," DePaul coach Pat Kennedy said.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half with a 12-4 run to take a 53-38 lead, and the Blue Demons didn't get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
It was 57-47 when David Diggs went inside for a three-point play and followed with a 3-pointer to end any comeback hopes for DePaul.
Lance Williams scored 12 points, and Andre Brown 10 for the Blue Demons (9-19, 2-14).
DePaul got Marquette's attention early, hitting five 3-pointers - three by LeVar Seals, who had only four in 27 previous games, and two by Quemont Greer - in the first nine minutes.
"It's amazing how a year can go," Kennedy said. "For us, there's a lot of rebuilding to do. A lot of our guys learned a lot of lessons this year."
Two were against Marquette, which also won 87-68 at DePaul.
"It was a great way for us to close the season and a great way for our seniors to close their careers at home," Crean said.
The sellout crowd of 18,788 at the Bradley Center set a record as the largest to watch a college basketball game in Wisconsin. The previous record of 18,753 fans watched the Golden Eagles beat Louisville on Feb. 16.
Marquette honored its four seniors - Henry, Diggs, Oluoma Nnamaka and Jon Harris - in a ceremony after the game.
"This is not a farewell speech," Henry said. "We've got a lot of season left to play."
