No. 24 Marquette Rises Above IPFW, 69-50

Dec. 13, 2008

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) - Jerel McNeal went on another second-half scoring spree, powering No. 24 Marquette past Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 69-50 on Saturday.

Lazar Hayward scored 19 points and McNeal had 16, including eight in a decisive 12-5 run just after halftime, and the Golden Eagles (8-1) returned to the court after going a week without a game.

McNeal picked right up where he left off despite the long layoff. The senior guard led Marquette on a critical run in its previous game, a comeback victory against in-state rival Wisconsin.

IPFW kept Marquette's potent offense bottled up for most of the first half, and trailed by 13 at halftime. But McNeal scored eight points in the first 5 minutes of the second half to put the game away.

David Carson scored 17 points for the Mastadons (4-6), who are coached by former Indiana standout Dane Fife.

And Fife, who is in his fourth season at IPFW but remains the youngest coach in Division I at 29, showed a few shades - of red, that is - of former Indiana coach Bobby Knight early in the first half.

After the Mastodons allowed a driving layup to Marquette's Wesley Matthews, Fife loudly chewed out guard Zach Plackemeier and slammed his clipboard to the ground as his team huddled for a timeout.

Still, the Mastadons stayed in contention late into the first half, as Ben Botts' 3-pointer cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 25-18 with just under 8 minutes left in the first half. After airballing another 3-point attempt, Botts hit one from beyond the arc to cut Marquette's lead to 25-21 with 6:27 remaining in the half.

But Marquette outscored IPFW 13-4 the rest of the way, as the Golden Eagles began to establish their more athletic inside game and Botts went cold from outside. Marquette led 38-25 at halftime.

Marquette faces No. 8 Tennessee, which lost to Temple 88-72 on Saturday, in Nashville on Tuesday night.