MILWAUKEE - Fourteenth-ranked Marquette won its 27th straight home game tonight as the Golden Eagles rallied past Saint Louis 68-64 in a Conference USA game at the Bradley Center. Marquette sophomore guard Travis Diener poured in a career-high 21 points to counter four Billikens in double figures.
"Prior to the game, our focus was preventing transition baskets, keeping our turnovers under 10 and keeping Marquette's offensive rebounds under 10," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "We didn't meet any of those goals."
The Billikens jumped to a 30-20 first half lead with 6:47 to play as senior center Kenny Brown made one of two free throws. Marquette closed the half with a 12-4 run to pull within 34-32 at the break. SLU senior guard Marque Perry led all scorers with 10 points in the first 20 minutes.
Early second-half foul trouble slowed down both Perry and his teammates. The Bills were assessed four personal fouls in the first 70 seconds of the half. Perry went to the bench with his third personal just one minute in and didn't return until less than 12 minutes remained. The Billikens' offense struggled without C-USA's eighth-leading scorer.
Marquette reclaimed the lead 42-41 for the first time since the opening minutes of play when senior center Robert Jackson connected at the 14:44 mark. Brown's tip-in put the Bills back on top 43-42. After a Travis Diener triple, Bills freshman Anthony Drejaj answered with a lay-up and the game was tied at 45. Junior guard Josh Fisher's fastbreak lay-up gave SLU its last lead at 47-45 with 11:59 left, but Jackson tied it with a pair of free throws shortly thereafter.
Then Travis Diener took over as his three off the right side gave Marquette the lead for good 50-47 at the 11:23 mark. The Bills went 2:30 without a basket until Drew Diener's threeball broke the drought and pulled SLU to within 52-50 at the 8:06 mark.
Saint Louis wouldn't go away as Perry's only basket of the second half came with 2:13 remaining and pulled the Bills within 61-59. But after Jackson answered with a bucket, Fisher was charged with an offensive foul that was argued vehemently by the SLU bench.
Brown appeared to have made the defensive play of the game when he blocked Jackson's shot and ripped the ball out of the MU center's hands. However, the play was ruled a tie-up much to the chagrin of the SLU bench, and the possession arrow was pointing Marquette's way. Diener then drained a 15-footer over Perry, and MU pushed its lead to 65-59 with 0:55 remaining.
Brown dunked off a pretty feed from Perry, but the Golden Eagles beat the Bills' fullcourt pressure with a long pass, which was almost intercepted by Fisher, to Dwayne Wade for a dunk. With SLU trailing 67-61, Drejaj drilled a triple with 20 seconds left and the Bills were down three.
SLU junior swingman Chris Sloan forced a turnover off the pressure defense by knocking the inbounds pass off Jackson. The Bills didn't execute the play that was called in the huddle, and Fisher's forced trey was way off the mark. Wade knocked down one of two free throws with five seconds left to salt it away.
"You've got to give Travis Diener credit for those clutch plays down the stretch," Soderberg said. "The baskets that he made were daggers."
Marquette (16-3, 8-1) shot only 39.7 percent from the field as the Billikens held C-USA leading scorer Wade to 3-of-17 shooting. MU made up for its off shooting night with 12 points off 13 Billiken turnovers and 13 second chance points off 13 offensive rebounds. Jackson, who finished with 15 points, split 16 rebounds with Wade.
Saint Louis shot 44.6 percent from the floor, but only 33.7 percent from three. Perry and Sloan shared Billiken scoring honors with 13 apiece despite foul trouble for both. Brown added 11, and Fisher finished with 10. Perry led SLU on the glass with seven boards, while he and Fisher both dished out six assists.
"I'm proud of our effort, because it's hard for players to keep getting up to play when our record is what it is," Soderberg said. "We need a win to soothe our wounds."
The Billikens (8-11, 2-6) continue their road trip at South Florida on Sat., Feb. 8, in a 5 p.m. (CST) start
