Golden Eagles end three-game skid
Marquette really needed this kind of performance.
The Golden Eagles came out hot and ended a three-game losing streak with a wire-to-wire, 93-72, victory over short-handed Georgetown on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.
MU (18-9, 8-7 Big East) had suffered frigid shooting starts during its skid. But against the Hoyas (15-13, 5-10), the Golden Eagles opened on a 7-0 run, getting a layup and a dunk from senior forward Sacar Anim and a threepointer from sophomore forward Brendan Bailey.
Georgetown was missing two key starters in center Omer Yurtseven and guard Mac McClung, both out with lower-body injuries.
MU’s offense kept humming, with some of the best ball movement the team has displayed all season.
The Golden Eagles gained some distance by making shots on four consecutive possessions, including threepointers from senior guard Markus Howard and freshman guard Symir Torrence.
MU got its largest lead of the first half at 38-18 after junior forward Jamal Cain passed up an open look to make the extra pass to Anim, who splashed in a three-pointer.
The Hoyas surprisingly put on a full-court press near the end of the first half that flustered the Golden Eagles. Georgetown cut the lead to 38-26 with 1:32 left and MU coach Steve Wojciechowski called a timeout.
The Golden Eagles responded by easily breaking the press and sophomore guard Greg Elliott finding junior center Theo John for an alley-oop dunk.
The Hoyas kept fighting, though, and got within 43-32 at intermission after a three-point play by Jagan Mosely in the waning seconds.
The Golden Eagles got the lead back to 51-36 within the first two minutes of the second half.
But Georgetown whittled the lead down to 51-41 with 15:14 remaining.
MU had immediate answers with a layup from Anim and a three-pointer from Howard. The lead soon reached 68-44 on a driving layup from Howard.
The Hoyas could only get the lead down to 74-58, but Howard took back momentum with back-to-back layups.
Howard, the nation’s leading scorer, finished with 30 points on an efficient 10-for-16 shooting. The national player of the year candidate plays the final home game of his collegiate career against Seton Hall on Saturday.
Howard also had seven assists and five rebounds. Anim and Cain each added 15 points.