Defense Leads To 60-32 Victory Over Illinois State

Box Score

Milwaukee?Marquette came out shooting in its Monday night BCA Classic semifinal game against Illinois State and claimed a 60-32 win.

Coming off of a 75-64 win over Western Carolina last night in the season opener, the Golden Eagles were able to hold the Redbirds to only 1-8 shooting through the first five minutes of action. Marquette was able to go 6-7 as a team, and jumped to an early 15-2 lead.

?We came out in the first five to ten minutes really wanted to set a tone for the game,? Travis Diener said. ?Tonight, when the shots are falling for you and you get off to the good tone it?s hard to come back on.?

Both teams then went through a scoring drought, going three minutes without making a shot. Joe Chapman was able to end the drought for Marquette, making a shot in the tenth minute to increase the lead to 17-6. Illinois State continued to struggle, however, and was held to single-digit scoring until Greg Dilligard went one-for-two from the free throw line after he was fouled by Chris Grimm with five minutes left.

Travis Diener, who lead the team in first half points with 16, ended the first half with a last second 40-foot three-point shot, making the score 38-15. In the first half, the Golden Eagles shot 48.3% from the field compared to the Red Birds 17.2%.

In the second half, Marquette was able to maintain momentum but struggled more on offense, turning the ball over 13 times, compared to only five first half turnovers. Diener was able to spend the majority of the half out of the game, getting only 11 minutes of action in the last half. He led the team in scoring with 16 and his five assists were also a team high.

The Golden Eagles kept Illinois State to a 17.7 field goal percentage, holding them to only one-of-13 from the three-point arc.

?We had a ton of respect for Illinois State and I mean a ton of respect,? coach Tom Crean said. ?We?ve been preparing for them a long time but our players came out and jelled defensively which really needed to happen.?

Steve Novak added 13 points, nine of them from the three-point arc while. Joe Chapman contributed eight points.

Marquette takes on Air Force tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the BCA Classic final.
>