Marquette stuns No. 4 Wisconsin 67-65 on buzzer-beating putback

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Justin Lewis scored 18 points and converted a putback off a missed free throw at the buzzer as Marquette knocked off No. 4 Wisconsin 67-65 on Friday night.

Marquette’s D.J. Carton was just inside the 3-point arc when he drew a foul from Wisconsin’s D’Mitrik Trice with nine-tenths of a second left. Carton made the first free throw and his second attempt bounced off the rim.

Lewis got into the paint and tapped the ball with his right hand. The freshman’s shot hit the front of the rim and went off the backboard before following through the basket to win the game as his teammates mobbed him under the basket.

“The second shot, I didn’t even look up because I wanted him to send us home,” Lewis said. “Then, it went off, and I just crashed and tipped it in.”

The game marked the most thrilling of the 127 meetings between the two in-state foes whose campuses are about 75 miles apart, though the absence of spectators at Fiserv Forum due to the pandemic gave the latest edition of the rivalry a different feel.

Marquette (3-1) earned its first victory over a top-five team since beating No. 1 Villanova 74-72 on Jan. 24, 2017. The Golden Eagles also snapped Wisconsin’s 11-game winning streak, which began late last season.

The lead changed hands six times in the final 70 seconds, and neither team led by more than six points.

Marquette was narrowly ahead for most of the second half before Trice made two free throws with two minutes left. The lead went back and forth from there before the frantic final sequence.

Trice led Wisconsin (3-1) with 17 points, while Jonathan Davis scored 12 and Nate Reuvers added 11.

Lewis had eight rebounds to go along with his 18 points. Carton scored 12 and Jamal Cain added 10.