Men's basketball defeats Rice 82-65
11/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Starting three freshmen, Marquette overcame a slow start for an 82-65 victory over Rice Friday night in the first round of the Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic.
Marquette (1-0) will play Winthrop on Saturday in the championship game of the tournament, which the Golden Eagles have won the past six years. Winthrop beat IUPUI 73-50 in the opening game of the tournament. In all, Marquette has won 14 straight games in the Blue & Gold Classic.
All three highly touted freshmen played a role in the victory. Dominic James scored a team-high 16 points, handed out 9 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds. Fellow freshmen Jerel McNeal added 14 points and Wes Mathews chipped in 7 points.
Senior Steve Novak hit 3 of 7 3-pointers to add 13 points, while sophomore Tulane transfer Dan Fitzgerald had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
"We got a lot of good basketball from a lot of people," said Marquette coach Tom Crean. "I'm impressed with the instinct and the natural ability that these freshmen have."
Novak said the freshmen were a bit nervous before their first college game.
"It was hard to talk to them because one would get up and walk around and then another would get up," he said. "It's good for them to get out there for the first time."
J.R. Harrison led Rice (0-1) with 18 points, while Jamal Moore added 14.
Rice coach Willis Wilson said he was impressed with Marquette's three freshman starters.
"I think they are a very talented group," Wilson said. "As they assert themselves more and learn the game, they are going to be terrific players."
Rice cut Marquette's lead to 47-40 with 14:42 remaining when Harrison hit a jumper.
Marquette then went on a 15-5 run to grab a 62-45 lead with 9:30 remaining when Mathews scored on a drive. He was fouled and hit the free throw to give Marquette its biggest lead of the game.
Rice came back to cut the lead to 66-56 when Moore scored on a dunk with 5:14 remaining. But Marquette put the game away with an 8-3 run for 74-59 lead with 2:48 remaining when Jamil Lott dunked off of a pass from James.
Marquette scored the last 11 points of the first half to grab a 39-32 halftime lead.
Official Basketball Box ScoreRice vs Marquette11/18/05 8 p.m. at Bradley Center-Milwaukee, Wis.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------VISITORS: Rice 0-1 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN24 Jamaal Moore........ f 5-12 0-1 4-7 3 2 5 4 14 3 1 0 0 3034 J.R. Harrison....... f 8-14 1-3 1-2 1 4 5 1 18 1 2 1 1 3841 Patrick Britton..... f 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 1705 Lorenzo Williams.... g 3-13 1-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 7 5 3 0 1 3222 Morris Almond....... g 5-14 1-4 0-0 1 0 1 3 11 4 3 0 1 2904 Matt Hagen.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1021 Rodney Foster....... 1-5 1-4 0-0 1 0 1 1 3 1 0 0 0 1332 Cory Pflieger....... 2-4 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 1043 Aleks Perka......... 2-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 4 1 1 0 2 21 TEAM................ 6 3 9 1 Totals.............. 27-69 6-22 5-9 16 15 31 20 65 15 12 1 5 200TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-34 38.2% 2nd Half: 14-35 40.0% Game: 39.1% DEADB3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 27.3% REBSF Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 55.6% 3--------------------------------------------------------------------------------HOME TEAM: Marquette 1-0 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN20 NOVAK, Steve........ f 4-9 3-7 2-2 0 2 2 1 13 2 0 0 0 3551 LOTT, Jamil......... f 3-3 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 2 9 0 0 0 0 2601 JAMES, Dominic...... g 4-12 3-7 5-7 1 5 6 3 16 9 2 1 1 3022 McNEAL, Jerel....... g 5-7 1-2 3-3 0 6 6 3 14 1 8 2 2 3123 MATTHEWS, Wesley.... g 3-4 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 3 7 1 4 0 1 1505 FITZGERALD, Dan..... 3-6 2-3 1-2 3 5 8 1 9 8 2 0 1 2432 CHAPMAN, Joe........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 3 0 1 0 1833 GRIMM, Chris........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 241 BARRO, Ousmane...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 4 0 2 1 0 643 AMOROSO, Ryan....... 4-7 0-1 2-2 0 4 4 0 10 0 2 0 0 13 TEAM................ 4 3 7 Totals.............. 28-51 9-20 17-21 12 30 42 15 82 24 20 5 5 200TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-25 60.0% Game: 54.9% DEADB3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-11 45.5% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 45.0% REBSF Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 9-10 90.0% Game: 81.0% 3--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Officials: Jim Haney, Ray Perone, Michael StephensTechnical fouls: Rice-None. Marquette-None.Attendance: 11218Score by Periods 1st 2nd TotalRice.......................... 32 33 - 65Marquette..................... 39 43 - 8244th Annual Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic First RoundRice OR% 34.8 DR% 55.6MU OR% 44.4 DR% 65.2Points in the paint-RICE 26,MARQ 34. Points off turnovers-RICE 23,MARQ 13.2nd chance points-RICE 18,MARQ 9. Fast break points-RICE 9,MARQ 12.Bench points-RICE 13,MARQ 23. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-4 times.Last FG-RICE 2nd-00:59, MARQ 2nd-00:21.Largest lead-RICE by 6 1st-10:43, MARQ by 18 2nd-08:13.
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