MBB Minute – Marquette Edges Xavier in Double OT; Seton Hall Rallies to Defeat DePaul
In Wednesday action, Marquette got a better result in its second straight overtime thriller on the road and Seton Hall kept its long winning streak going.
Marquette (15-6, 5-4 BIG EAST) survived the loss of Markus Howard to a facial injury in the second half with Sacar Anim and Koby McEwen coming to the rescue in an 84-82 double-overtime win at Xavier. Anim scored a career-high 28 points, including 10 points in the second overtime period. McEwen scored eight straight points in the final 1:27 of regulation to force overtime. Quentin Goodin returned to the lineup for Xavier (13-8, 2-6) after a two-game absence and scored a team-high 19 points. Naji Marshall finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Howard still finished with 18 points and moved into third place on the BIG EAST Career Points list (league games only) with 1,336 points. He moved past Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody (1,329) and Seton Hall’s Terry Dehere (1,320). For his overall career, Howard became the 72nd player in college basketball history to reach the 2,500-point plateau.
DePaul led Seton Hall by nine points in the second half at Prudential Center before the Pirates came back to grind out a 64-57 victory. After a slow start, the Pirates’ Myles Powell scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half, including a personal 9-0 run that gave Seton Hall (16-4, 8-0) the lead for good. Jared Rhoden added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Charlie Moore was high for DePaul (13-8, 1-7) with 14 points. The Pirates’ 10-game winning streak is the program’s longest since 1992-93.
BIG EAST play picks up early on Saturday with Seton Hall hosting Xavier at 11 a.m. ET on FOX. At noon on FS1, Creighton meets Villanova at Wells Fargo Center. The other two contests tip at 2 p.m. – Providence at Butler on FS1 and DePaul at Marquette on FSN.
Home teams are 24-17 (.585) in league games going into Saturday.