Men's Basketball Defeats San Francisco, 61-48

Dec. 17, 2005

MILWAUKEE - Senior Steve Novak registered a game high 22 points including six three pointers to pace the Marquette men's basketball team to a 61-48 win over San Francisco in front of a crowd of season high crowd of 12,221 at the Bradley Center. With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 7-3, while the Dons fall to 4-6 on the season.

"It was a hard fought game by both teams and we have a lot of respect for San Francisco," said head coach Tom Crean. "I thought we did a tremendous job guarding the perimeter, but we gave them some looks that we wish we could have had back. Our defensive intensity was great in the second half we got our running game going in the second half. We got a lot of good basketball from the guys that were in today."

Marquette improved its shooting from the field in the second half hitting 55.6 percent (10 of 18) but the Dons out-shot the Golden Eagles from the field connecting on 39.2 percent from the field (20 of 51) with help from Jerome Gumbs, Alan Wiggins and Jason Wallace-Carter who each scored in double figures. The Golden Eagles shot 36.5 percent (19 of 52) for the game. But Marquette's defense kept it in the game, forcing 19 turnovers and recording seven steals.

Freshman guard Jerel McNeal tied his career high with 15 points, while sophomore Ryan Amoroso tallied eight points and eight rebounds in his first start of the season, the fourth of his career. Freshman guard Wesley Matthews contributed seven points and seven rebounds to help the Golden Eagles' effort.

"I was trying to let the game come to me and just try to give us a lift," said McNeal. "We have a lot of guys on this team that can play. It is going to be one of those seasons that someone is going to have to step up when another guy is having an off night."

Marquette entered halftime down by two points 26-24. The Golden Eagles shot 26.5 percent (9 of 34) compared to the Dons' 42.9 percent (12 of 28) from the field led by 10 points from Alan Wiggins. Novak led all Marquette scores with nine points hitting three from behind the arc. McNeal added seven points and Amoroso tallied six points and six rebounds.

Marquette started the game trading buckets with the Dons. Amoroso tallied the Golden Eagles first two baskets including a second chance tally while drawing the foul to put Marquette ahead 4-2 just over two minutes into the game.

The Dons went on a 6-0 run over the course of five minutes midway through the first. The Golden Eagles were held scoreless for over five minutes until McNeal hit a layup and earned the foul but could not connect from the charity stripe to keep Marquette trailing 14-11 with just under 10 minutes left in the first half.

Two free throws from Amoroso put the Golden within two points (17-15) and a trey from Novak tied the game up 21-21 with 4:36 remaining in the first. Novak hit his second consecutive trey to give Marquette its first lead in 13 minutes 24-21 with just over three left in the first stanza, but San Francisco responded with a 3-0 run to end the half leading with a two point advantage 26-24.

Marquette jumped on an 11-2 run midway through the second with the help of a layup from Amoroso, three pointers from Novak and Chapman, and free throws from Matthews and McNeal giving the Golden Eagles a six-point lead (43-37) with 7:29 left in the game and pushed its lead to nine points (43-52) with just under four minutes remaining.

The Dons chipped away at Marquette's lead hitting three of four free throws to come with in six points 52-46, but couldn't get any closer as the Golden Eagles rolled to the 61-48 victory after Novak hit his sixth trey of the game and Marquette converted six free throws in the final minute.

"Our whole team thought we had the game under our control the entire time," said Novak. "We just were kind of waiting for the ball to roll our way to get the momentum. San Francisco was a very aggressive team. We knew their tendencies. I thought we were well prepared to figure out how to stop them."

After a short turnaround, the Golden Eagles return to action on Monday, December 19 when they host Oakland at the Bradley Center. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.