Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Drops 76-66 Decision To Charlotte
1/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Milwaukee, Jan. 22? It was his first collegiate start, yet Ousmane Barro?s collegiate- high nine points was not enough to propel No. 25 Marquette (14-4, 2-3) over Charlotte (13-3, 4-1) in a 76-67 loss this afternoon at the Bradley Center.
Despite having the lead at two different points during the game, the Golden Eagles were never able to sustain enough momentum to keep them ahead of the Bulls for long.
?I thought we played with a lot of effort and a lot of energy,? coach Tom Crean said. ?It was a dogfight for most of the game. There were some costly missed opportunities to get rebounds on the defensive end and they were able to turn them into second chance points.?
After getting down by as many as nine early in the first half, Barro spurred a run when he drove the ball down the lane between two Charlotte defenders for a layup that brought the score to 15-9. On the ensuing defensive play, Barro rejected an Eddie Basden shot, Travis Diener took the ball and outleted to Dameon Mason who converted it into a Marquette basket.
?What we were looking for was an energy boost and that?s why Ousmane was in there,? Crean said. ?It was his coming out party today. I thought he really looked like he belonged out there and he did really good things for us.?
With the score 15-9, the Bulls began to struggle offensively and paired with Marquette?s increased intensity on the defensive boards, the Golden Eagles were able to tie the score at 21.
The lead slipped away from Marquette and the end of the half as it trailed 40-31 entering the second period of play.
Travis Diener hit a long range jump shot with 13 minutes left in the game that gave the Golden Eagles its first lead of the day at 48-47. Steve Novak added his own trey to up the lead to 51-47.
?We put some runs on them, we made some strides and they had an answer for everything,? Mason said.
Despite going 6-11 at the free-throw line, Charlotte was able to drive the lead up on three pointers by Brendan Plavich who shot 5-12 from behind the arc for the game. Basden lead the Bulls in scoring with 23 points, Plavich contributed 20.
After taking the lead one more time in the second half, Marquette couldn?t hold on as it was out-rebounded 42-30.
?To me (Charlotte) just made more big plays for us and it came down to the easy points and that?s what they were the big plays,? Crean said.
Diener led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 15, Mason had 15 and Ryan Amoroso added 13.
Marquette now goes on a two game road trip starting Jan. 26 against Louisville at 6 p.m. The second game comes on Jan. 29 against Saint Louis at 1 p.m.
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