Marquette University Athletics
Men' Basketball Edges Saint Louis, 61-59
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Facing a halftime deficit for the second time this year, Marquette used balanced scoring out of its starting unit and nine second-half points from freshman Dameon Mason to come back and beat Saint Louis 61-59 before a crowd of 18,484.
Marquette was led by Travis Diener, who scored 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Frontline duo Terry Sanders and Scott Merritt also notched double-figures for Marquette, with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
After turning the ball over to Saint Louis steals seven times in the first half, Marquette did well to take care of the ball, only giving up three turnovers in the second half. Combined with improved outside shooting (four-of-nine from behind-the-arc) Marquette was able to control much of the second half, going on 23-to-7 run over the opening nine minutes of the second half to go up by ten.
Saint Louis would respond late in the game. Fueled by Reggie Bryant?s 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting, the Billikens tied the game four times in the last two minutes, but was not able to maintain the lead. Out of timeouts, Saint Louis was forced to foul Marquette down the stretch, and Marquette made four-of-six free throws in the last two minutes to position the Golden Eagles for Diener?s late game heroics.
With the ball in the wide-post with six seconds to go, Diener used a head and shoulders fake toward the middle to lose his defender, before dipping underneath and banking home an eight-footer. Diener?s quick defensive recovery, deflecting the Saint Louis inbounds and forcing the Billikens to settle for Bryant?s desperation heave from beyond half court which fell off-mark to the right.
Marquette is back in action Wednesday night, as the Golden Eagles host Cincinnati in a nationally-televised game at 6 p.m., which can be seen on ESPN.
