Marquette romps to 95-84 win Big East win over Xavier (Mar 01, 2017)
CINCINNATI (AP) Andrew Rowsey scored 20 points and Jajuan Johnson 19 to lead five Marquette players in double figures and the Golden Eagles solidified their hopes for a Big East Tournament first-round bye with a 95-84 road win over the Xavier Musketeers on Wednesday.
Katin Reinhardt added 17 points and Markus Howard finished with 15 as Marquette (18-11, 9-8) swept the two-game season series against Xavier and moved into a three-way tie with Seton Hall and Providence for fifth place in the Big East.
Sam Hauser scored 12 points to enhance Marquette's balanced attack.
J.P. Macura scored 20 points to lead the Musketeers (18-12, 8-9 Big East), who saw Senior Night ruined by suffering their sixth consecutive loss, their longest losing streak in 36 seasons. RaShid Gaston added 16 points and Trevon Bluiett finished with 15, 13 in the second half. Malcolm Bernard scored 13 to tie the single-game career high he set on Sunday.
Xavier was hampered all night by turnovers. Johnson's steal and dunk for a game-high 17-point lead, 83-66, with 5:53 left in the game prompted boos from parts of the crowd of 10,071. The Musketeers committed 14 turnovers, helping the Eagles build a 25-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.
Marquette never trailed after center Luke Fischer snapped a 12-12 tie on a layup with 13:57 left to play in the first half. Howard and Reinhardt each went 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first half while helping the Golden Eagles lead by as many as 15 points before settling for a 44-31 halftime lead.
The 44 points were the most allowed in the first half by Xavier this season and pushed to 94 the total number of points given up by the Musketeers in the last two halves. They yielded 50 in the second half of an 88-79 loss to Butler on Sunday.
BIG PICTURE
Marquette: The Golden Eagles are building a little head of steam heading into postseason play with three wins in their last four games.
Xavier: The Musketeers have lost six straight games for the first time since a seven-game losing streak during the 1981-1982 season.
UP NEXT
Marquette: The Eagles wrap up their regular season with a home matchup against Creighton on Saturday.
Xavier: The Musketeers head to Chicago to face DePaul in the regular-season finale for both teams.
