Marquette Defeats Sam Houston State 84-71

Box Score

Milwaukee ? It was a shootout Friday night during Marquette?s first game of the Pepsi Blue and Gold Classic. The Golden Eagles (4-0) defeated Sam Houston State (1-2), 84-71.

Dameon Mason led the way for Marquette with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds.

?The game plan in the second half was to get into the lane and get in the bonus,? Mason said. ?The coaches are on me all the time about rebounding so I just made it a focus a lot more to go out there and crash the glass.?

After going back-and-forth with the Bearkats in early play, Travis Diener was able to bring the momentum back for the Golden Eagles in the first half by going on an eight point scoring drive. His three-point shot with nine minutes remaining gave Marquette a one point edge. The senior then turned around to hit another only one minute later to increase the Golden Eagles lead to 23-19.

A fast break dunk by Mason with two minutes left gave Marquette an eight point lead, its largest margin of the half. The Golden Eagles ended the half ahead, 40-34.

Mason led the Golden Eagles in scoring and rebound in the first half with 15 points and eight boards.

?I thought Dameon did a great job of taking what the game gave him and I thought that was key. He stepped up. Dameon has to be, and should be, a leading rebounder for us every night out,? coach Tom Crean said.

Marquette came out shooting in the second half and was able to build on its halftime lead while limiting the Bearkats scorer Joe Thompson. Thompson scored 17 in the first half and was limited to only one field goal in the second.

?We knew we had to come out and have a good first five minutes so we just kept putting them away,? forward Steve Novak said.

After shooting a precise 58.3% on seven-for-13 three-point shots in the first half, Sam Houston State was held to two-of-six-shooting in the second while the Golden Eagles turned on the heat on offense.

Marquette was able to shoot 50% from the field in the second half, compared with its 40% first-half percentage.

It was a record-breaking night for Marquette, with three players tying or beating career records.

Mason bested his scoring and rebound record tonight with his 22 points and 13 boards. His old point record was 13 which came on Nov. 14, 2004 against Western Carolina. His pervious high nine rebounds came also in the Nov. 14 Western Carolina game.

Marcus Jackson tied his career block record with his two tonight. His other two block game came against Illinois State, Nov. 15, 2004.

Joe Chapman also broke his career scoring record tonight with 15 points. His previous record was 13. He also tied his rebounding record of six.

Marquette faces Kent State (1-0) tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in the last game of the Pepsi Blue and Gold Classic.
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