Field Level Media
Mar 6, 2021
D.J. Carton recorded 16 points and seven rebounds and Jamal Cain added 13 points and seven boards to help Marquette post a 66-59 victory over Xavier in Big East play on Saturday night at Milwaukee.
Greg Elliott had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and Dawson Garcia added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Golden Eagles (13-13, 8-11 Big East).
Paul Scruggs registered 18 points and six rebounds for the Musketeers (13-7, 6-7), who fell for the fifth time in the past seven games. Adam Kunkel scored 11 points and C.J. Wilcher had 10.
Xavier dropped its fourth consecutive road game and the setback cost the squad a first-round bye in next week's Big East tournament. The Musketeers' lone lead was at 2-0.
Carton scored the game's final six points as the Golden Eagles held off Xavier's charge.
Marquette shot 51 percent from the field, including 4 of 14 from 3-point range.
The Musketeers made 40.4 percent of their shots and were a woeful 4 of 24 from behind the arc.
Wilcher buried a 3-pointer with 12:27 remaining as Xavier scored six straight points to tie the score at 38.
The Golden Eagles responded by scoring nine of the next 13 points, with Cain slamming home Koby McEwen's lob to make it 47-42 with 8:50 remaining.
McEwen threaded another stellar pass, this time to Theo John, and he slammed it home to make it 52-45 with 7:17 left.
A bit later, Scruggs and Wilcher scored consecutive baskets to pull Xavier within 60-57 with 3:13 left.
Neither team scored over the next two minutes until Scruggs drove for a hoop to cut the deficit to one with 1:06 remaining.
Carton's layup gave the Golden Eagles a 62-59 lead with 55.5 seconds to play. He added two free throws with 32.8 seconds left and sealed the win by knocking down two more with 4.4 seconds remaining.
After Xavier scored the first two points of the game, Marquette ran off the next seven and controlled the first half.
Elliott knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 17-7 advantage with 9:56 remaining. The Musketeers crept within five late in the half before Elliott drained another 3-pointer with under eight seconds remaining to give Marquette a 32-24 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media