No. 22/18 Gonzaga Edges Marquette, 66-63

Nov. 23, 2010

Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) | Quotes (PDF)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Steven Gray scored 20 points and No. 22 Gonzaga stopped a rare two-game losing streak with a 66-63 victory over Marquette on Tuesday night in the third-place game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.

The Bulldogs (3-2) lost to then-No. 25 San Diego State 79-76 last week and to No. 4 Kansas State 81-64 in the semifinals on Monday, a rare losing blowout.

Elias Harris had 19 points and reserve Mangisto Arop had 15, 10 in the second half when he kept the Bulldogs in front as Marquette (4-2) kept chipping away at an 11-point second-half deficit.

Jimmy Butler, who finished with 22 points, had a chance to tie the game but his long 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded was well off the mark and the Golden Eagles had their second straight loss after losing 82-77 to No. 1 Duke in the semifinals.

The difference for Gonzaga from the losses was defense. Both San Diego State and Kansas State shot better than 50 percent against the Bulldogs. Against Marquette the 2-3 zone was much more effective as the Golden Eagles finished 21 of 54 from the field (38.9 percent), including going 6 of 21 from 3-point range (28.6 percent).

Gray had an off game against Kansas State, finishing with 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting, 1 of 5 on 3s, and six turnovers. He was better than that in the first half against Marquette, scoring 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 5 of 7 on 3s, without a turnover.

Gonzaga led 42-33 at halftime but Gray wasn't going to be the man in the second it would be Arop, a 6-foot-6 sophomore. He had 10 points all in a 4:40 span and all of them were big.

Three times Marquette scored to get within seven points and each time Arop scored on an offensive rebound to build the lead.

Gonzaga had a 3-minute scoreless drought late in the game and Marquette was able to get with 65-63 on a 3-pointer by Butler with 43 seconds to go. Gray was dribbling the ball near midcourt running off some time when he was double-teamed and it looked like it would be at least a jump ball - Gonzaga had the possession arrow - but a foul was called on Darius Johnson-Odom.

Gray made one free throw with 12.6 seconds left for the three-point lead.

After three timeouts, two by Gonzaga, Marquette was finally able to inbound the ball with 2.5 seconds left. Butler inbounded the ball to Jae Crawford and got it back for the final shot that missed.

Gonzaga finished with 17 turnovers but Marquette was only able to get 14 points off them.

Johnson-Odom had 13 points and Crowder added 10 for Marquette.