Marquette 79, Seton Hall 67
Feb. 17, 2009 9:15 p.m.
Powered by 24 points from Wesley Matthews and a season-high 16 steals, the Marquette Golden Eagles defeated the Seton Hall Pirates, 79-67, on Tuesday night at the Bradley Center.
The victory was the 17th straight at home for 10th-ranked MU (22-4, 11-2), which also got 14 points from Lazar Hayward and 13 points apiece from Jerel McNeal and Dominic James.
The Golden Eagles also rode a 41-31 advantage on the boards and in beating Seton Hall (14-11, 5-8) for the sixth time in as many meetings in league play. They also held the Pirates without a field goal for a stretch of 9 minutes 10 seconds in the second half.
Jeremy Hazell scored 23 points to lead the Pirates.
The Golden Eagles rallied from a 37-34 halftime deficit with a 16-3 run over the first 4 minutes 49 seconds of the second half to take control of the game at 50-40.
Matthews scored six and McNeal five in the surge, with Matthews' dunk off a Pirates turnover at the 15:11 mark forcing Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez to call a time out.
A Jordan Theodore layup stemmed the flow momentarily. but things began deteriorating rapidly on the ensuing possession when Hayward was fouled on a drive to the basket.
The foul was was whistled on John Garcia, who had just been inserted back into the game. It was his fifth, sending him to the bench and leaving the Pirates without their best big man.
Hazell protested the call and was then hit with a technical, as was Gonzalez, prompting a minutes-long break in the action as the officials attempted to sort everything out.
When it was all said and done, MU had knocked down 5 of 6 free throws to take a 55-42 lead, gotten itself into the bonus with 14:24 remaining, and for all intents and purposes knocked Seton Hall out.
Matthews knocked down three of the four free throws coming from the technicals, becoming MU's all-time leader in makes. Then, 24 seconds later, McNeal became MU's all-time steals leader with his 273rd theft.
MU used a 10-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 6:18 left in the first half, sparked by five points from Matthews -- including a pretty alley-oop dunk off a pass from James on the break.
But Seton Hall answered by outscoring the Golden Eagles, 15-5, the rest of the way to head into intermission with a 37-34 lead. Harvey scored six points to key the surge.
The Golden Eagles, who missed nine of their final 10 shots, hit 40.0% overall in the opening 20 minutes. Matthews led the way with nine points, while Hayward and James added seven apiece.
MU had nine assists on 11 field goals, but committed nine turnovers. It also scored 12 points off nine Seton Hall turnovers.
Paul Gause led the Pirates with 10 points, while Eugene Harvey added eight. Seton Hall had eight steals.
-- Delivered by Feed43 servicehttp://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39758627.html
