[Cracked Sidewalks] Marquette falls on Senior Day in Overtime to Notre Dame

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Marquette falls on Senior Day in Overtime to Notre Dame

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (muwarrior92)

Marquette led by 7 points with just over a minute to play but lost to Notre Dame in overtime today at the Bradley Center.  Marquette, leading 50-43 with 1:02 left in the game, but could not salt the game away.  

Two free throws by ND cut the lead to 5 before senior Lazar Hayward was fouled.  Hayward made one of two shots giving MU at 51-46 lead.  The Irish then nailed a 3 pointer with 51 seconds remaining.  After a Notre Dame timeout, Marquette used up clock and settled for a 3 point shot from Lazar Hayward with 16 seconds left in the game.  The shot missed, as did more than 80% of MU's 3-pointers today.

With the rebound, Notre Dame looked to tie the game.  Coach Buzz Williams chose not to foul Notre Dame who took a 3 pointer to tie with 4 seconds left and missed, but the rebound was not squeezed by MU.  At the buzzer, Notre Dame's Carleton Scott hit a tying three pointer to send the game into overtime.

At this point, the air was out of the balloon.  Notre Dame scored the seven of the first nine points in the OT.  Still, MU had a chance.  Trailing 60-58, MU fouled Tim Abromaitis with 6 seconds to play.  He missed one of two free throws giving MU a chance to tie.  Coach Mike Brey signaled for the Irish to foul MU before they even had a chance to take the 3 point shot to tie.  It worked.  DJO was fouled bringing up the ball.  He made the first free throw.  For the second attempt, instead of missing the foul shot on purpose (an option, but not necessarily an automatic play at that point), he shot and made the free throw.  MU trailed by one and fouled Notre Dame again.  The Irish made both free throws to give them a 63-60 lead.  The Golden Eagles desperation 3 pointer from half court was missed.  

MU falls to Notre Dame 63-60 in a game they had all but locked up in the last minute. A tough loss.  Notre Dame may have played itself into the NCAA tournament with the win.  Up next for Marquette, the Big East Tournament with a likely opponent of the home town team of St. John's or a desperate UCONN team.  The final pairings will come out tomorrow.

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