Villanova Wildcats vs Marquette Golden Eagles Match Player Stats On Jan 04, 2020

Markus Howard scored 17 of his 29 points in the first half, and Koby McEwen added 22, as host Marquette built a big early lead and held on to defeat No. 10 Villanova 71-60 in a Big East Conference game in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Howard was just 3 of 12 from 3-point range, but the All-American added eight rebounds in his seventh game this season with at least 25 points. The Golden Eagles (11-3, 1-1) improved to 8-0 at home while rebounding from a defeat at Creighton in their Big East opener Wednesday.

Cole Swider and Justin Moore each scored 14 points as the Wildcats (10-3, 1-1) saw their six-game winning streak come to an end.

Aggressive on their home court all season, Marquette showed its confidence early, shooting 55.6 percent from the field in the first half while going 3 of 9 from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles led 46-29 at the break, using a 21-5 run in a stretch of about eight minutes.

Villanova shot just 36.7 percent in the first half. A team that relies heavily on 3-point shooting was 6 of 18 from distance in the opening 20 minutes.

Baskets were hard to come by in a defensive-minded second half, with Villanova able to go on an early 7-3 run over the first 3:07 of the second half to cut the deficit to 49-36.

After a Marquette basket, the Wildcats then went on a 9-3 run to cut the deficit 54-45 with 7:27 to play.

Marquette built the lead back to 15 at 60-45 with 4:29 to play aided by four points from Sacar Anim, but Villanova closed to within 62-52 with 1:40 remaining. McEwen made seven free throws over the last 48 seconds to seal the victory.

Theo John had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots for Marquette, which has defeated Villanova three of the last four times the teams have met in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles won despite not making a field goal over the final 5:42.

Jermaine Samuels scored 10 points for Villanova, while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl added 11 rebounds.

--Field Level Media