Golden Eagles survive after blowing lead
Marquette hasn't made it easy this season.
The Golden Eagles' penchant for blowing leads cropped up again on Saturday, but senior guard Koby McEwen hit a left-handed layup with 27 seconds remaining and MU then made a strong defensive stand to beat St. John's, 73-71, at Carnesecca Arena in New York.
MU (8-6, 4-4 Big East) has struggled to hold double-digit leads in three straight games. The Golden Eagles lost to Connecticut after leading by 18 and held on to beat Providence despite losing most of a 16-point advantage.
“When we hit adversity, our group tends to go into a shell and not come together,” said sophomore guard D.J. Carton, who led four MU players in double figures with 14 points. “So we've put a lot of emphasis on that in practice lately.
“Settle down and just understand that we're going through adversity, we've got to identify it and then find ways and work with each other to get through it.”
The game against the Red Storm (7-7, 2-6) also teetered on the edge. MU led by 11 points at halftime and, after some issues early in the second half, looked to be back in control when Carton threw down back-to-back dunks for a 51-41 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
But then St. John's ratcheted up the pressure and MU wilted. The Red Storm ripped off a 12-0 run in just 1 minute 38 seconds. All the points came from sophomore forward Julian Champagnie, the Big East's leading scorer, including 3 three-pointers.
MU had two turnovers in that stretch and finished with 19. Taking care of the ball has been an issue for the Golden Eagles, and the full-court mayhem that St. John's plays with made MU pay.
“They're very athletic guys,” Carton said. “I think the best thing with them is they have quick hands.
“Driving, you know they pick up full court, they're going to have quick hands so you can't dance with the ball. Driving lanes, you're always going to have guys smacking down at the ball. So you have to be very fundamental and sound with your movements and make the right, simple play.”
The Golden Eagles recovered to take a 69-66 lead on a layup from senior forward Jamal Cain with 3:14 remaining.
But Champagnie, who finished with 20 points, immediately answered with a three-pointer.
The left-handed Carton broke the tie with a tough layup at the 1:51 mark, then St. John's freshman guard Posh Alexander raced up the court for a layup.
McEwen gave MU its final lead by blowing by Alexander and then finishing with his left hand over St. John's junior big man Josh Roberts.
“It looked like he kind of got in my bag a little bit for that one,” Carton said. “He had the long-step, lefty, high-off-the-glass finish. I like that.
“He's a big-time player. Does a lot of things for this team. I'm proud of the way he played, he gave it his all on both sides of the floor and had some big plays going down the stretch of the game.”
McEwen has been a clutch player over his two seasons with the Golden Eagles. He took over last season's game at Xavier when star guard Markus Howard left with an injury. Last season he also sent the game at Butler into overtime with a dramatic three-pointer and iced the victory at Georgetown with clutch free throws. This season, McEwen had a four-point play in the final minute to tie the game at Xavier.
“Koby's got a very tough mentality,” MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Generally guys who deliver down the stretch want the ball and are willing to live with the repercussions of having the ball at the end of the game.”
The Golden Eagles still needed to get a stop to beat St. John's. After a timeout, MU's 6-foot-9 senior center Theo John came out guarding St. John's 6-2 senior point guard Rasheem Dunn.
John stayed in front of Dunn and then helped off to block a shot by Vince Cole out of bounds in the waning seconds.
“Theo is such a good defender,” Wojciechowski said. “At the end of the game for a defensive stop, you've got to have him on the floor.
“But we wanted to keep a smaller guy on Champagnie, because we thought that was where the ball was going given the half that he had. So we were crossmatched, but we felt like if Theo gave ground (it would be) very difficult, if they wanted to take advantage of that matchup, to shoot over it at the basket. While we had some for more ability and agility on the guy who was just fantastic in the second half.”
Champagnie missed a corner threepointer over McEwen at the buzzer.
St. John's has been a thorn in MU's side in recent years. The Red Storm had won the previous four regular-season matchups in New York and six of seven overall.