Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Basketball Tops Nicaraguan National Team
10/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 19, 2003
By TODD ROSIAK
Milwuakee Journal Sentinel
Sparked by an explosive offensive performance, the Marquette Golden Eagles rolled over the Nicaraguan national team, 106-52, in the first of two games scheduled for Saturday at the National Stadium in Escazu, Costa Rica.
Marquette hit 41 of 61 shots (67.2%) and scored 56 fast-break points in winning its third straight contest on the exhibition tour. Freshman forward James Matthews led the Golden Eagles with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while junior point guard Travis Diener added 16 points, seven assists and three steals.
"I thought our sense of urgency to come out and play really hard defensively was there from the beginning to the end," coach Tom Crean said via cellular phone. "The biggest thing for us was that when we went to the bench, the bench energized us and helped us get better instead of leveling us off."
Three other players scored in double figures for Marquette - sophomore guards Karon Bradley (12 points, three steals) and Joe Chapman (10 points) and freshman guard Dameon Mason (10 points, four rebounds). Sophomore Chris Grimm, getting his first start on the tour, also played well at center, finishing with nine points and five rebounds.
The Golden Eagles grabbed 38 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end, dished out 27 assists and also registered 15 steals.
"Some of the baskets we got today were misleading," said Crean. "I'm more excited about the baskets we got off offensive rebounds, penetration and drop-offs and us executing our sets. The level of competition is certainly not the strongest by any stretch of the imagination, but they had some solid players that we needed to try and take out of the game, and I thought we did that."
In other lineup changes, Bradley got the starting nod at shooting guard over Chapman, and senior Terry Sanders started at power forward in place of sophomore Steve Novak, who came off the bench with nine points and five assists.
Freshman point guard Brandon Bell had six assists backing up Diener, while fellow classmate Carlton Christian had six points and five rebounds after coming off the bench at small forward.
After the game Marquette headed back to its hotel for a couple hours of rest before returning to the National Stadium for an 8 p.m. game against the under-22 Costa Rican national team.
From the Oct. 19, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
