Marquette Takes Down Utah Valley State

With a balanced scoring attack, Marquette notched their second win of the year, 66-55, over Utah Valley on Monday night.

Dominic James led the way for the Golden Eagles, tallying 13 points. Dwight Burke, David Cubillan, and Lazar Hayward also chipped in scoring, 12, 12, and 11 points respectively.

Burke was a bright spot for the Golden Eagles, who was active on both sides of the court. Burke started off strong, grabbing 7 first half rebounds, and 10 first half points.

“He had his career high at the first TV timeout,” Crean said. “He is working hard and is starting to understand his role.”

Marquette attacked the basket the entire game, scoring 36 points in the paint. In the first half, the Golden Eagles had several quality opportunities under the hoop, but had troubles converting, missing 10 lay-ups. The second half proved to be a different story as Marquette went 9-12 from close range.

“We did a lot of things better in the second half,” Crean said. “We moved the ball better on offense and we attacked their defense better, and didn’t settle for jumpers as much.”

Marquette had their hands full with UV junior guard Ryan Toolson, who scored a game-high 20 points in 36 minutes for the Wolverines. Toolson shot 7-12 from the field, including 5-9 from beyond the arc.

“We made him earn his points tonight,” Coach Tom Crean said. “He may end up leading the nation in scoring.”

After trailing in the first half, Marquette broke out in the second half, starting off with 4 straight steals, setting the tone for the defense the rest of the game.

“We wanted to come out in the second half with a defensive mentality,” James said. “We wanted to create a tempo.”

James also added himself to the Marquette history books, recording his 1,000th point on a free throw early in the second half.

“I liked it that it was a free throw,” James joked. “I’ve been struggling at the free throw line, so that will please my Uncle Eric back home.”

Although it was a non-conference contest, tensions were high the entire game, the peak being an early second half near-brawl between Ousmane Barro and Joe Walker. As both players went hard after a lose ball, tempers flared when both players crashed to the floor. The game was briefly delayed as the referees separated the players and issued both sides technical fouls.

“I want Ousmane to chase rebounds like he chased number 23,” Crean said. “We don’t need those types of things. We need people who will knock other people over to get rebounds.”

Both Crean and James stressed the importance of playing in close games in preparation for the upcoming EA Sports Maui Invitational Tournament. The team departs for Hawaii Friday at 7 A.M.

Notes…

Marquette’s strong bench outscored the Wolverine bench 23-13…Jerel McNeal led the team with 9 rebounds, despite only shooting 3-14 from the field… Marquette outscored UVU 34-21 in the second half…Marquette topped UVU in the paint 36-20…The attendance for the game was 12,992.

**Patrick Kurish is s sophomore majoring in Journalism.

**Marco Radenkovich is a sophomore majoring in Operations and Supply Chain Management.