#mubb Uses Explosive Offensive Effort to Beat Xavier, 85-65

MILWAUKEE — All-American guard Markus Howard scored 19 of his game-high 35 points in the first half as the Marquette University men's basketball team defeated Xavier 85-65 Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Marquette (12-5) shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and took a 44-32 lead into intermission. The Golden Eagles never lost steam and extended their lead to as many as 23 in the second half on their way to their ninth win in 10 tries this year at home. MU moves to 7-0 this season when scoring 40 or more points in the first half and 7-1 when scoring over 80 points overall.

Senior wing Sacar Anim broke his three-game streak of missing double-figure scoring as he tallied 12 points and a season-high eight rebounds. Koby McEwen and Theo John scored 10 points apiece while John also chipped in seven boards.

Led by 13 points from Howard, MU started the second half on a 17-7 run to extend its lead to 61-39 with 12:39 left to play. Xavier (12-6) wasn't able to get closer than 17 points the rest of the way as MU moved to 9-1 on its home court this season.

The Golden Eagles held the Musketeers to just 35.9 percent (23/64) shooting from the field, marking the ninth time this season they've held their opponent to under 40 percent from the field (9-0 in those games).

Tyrique Jones (16 points), Naji Marshall (15 points) and Zach Freemantle (10 points) were the three Musketeers to reach double-figures in scoring. Senior guard Quentin Goodin dished out three assists but was held to just one point on 0/8 shooting.

BIG PICTURE
Xavier drops its third straight game in BIG EAST play and falls to ninth place at 1-4 in the conference. The Musketeers will get the weekend off as they look to rebound next Wednesday against Georgetown at the Cintas Center.

The Golden Eagles move into a three-way tie for fifth place in the BIG EAST and will look to build off their victory tonight when they take to the road to play the Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday.

UP NEXT
Xavier: Hosts Georgetown on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. CT.

Marquette: Travels to Georgetown for a game on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 1 p.m. CT.