The Marquette Warriors sampled the bitter taste of defeat last night falling 82-77 to the top-ranked Duke Blue Devlis last night at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City.
The Warriors (4-1) have no time to grouse about the defeat, tonight they lace up the hi-tops once more as they face the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2010 version of the Jumpin' Jesuit Jamboree. The Zags fell to Kansas State 81-64 last night. Tipoff tonight is scheduled for 6:45 Marquette Standard Time on ESPNU.
After a shaky first half that saw Marquette head into the locker room trailing 40-31, the Warriors packed wallop during the first ten minutes of the second half. Led by the impossibly hot Darius Johnson-Odom who scored all 13 of his points in the second half, Marquette tied the game at 57-57 on a Jae Crowder jumper with 10:32 remaining in regulation.
If not for the sequence which followed in the next two minutes, MU might have won the game.
The Warriors turned the ball over on their next three consecutive possessions, two by senior Dwight Buycks, and surrendered a Blue Devils' three-pointer on a second chance opportunity as Duke quickly extended its lead back to 66-57 and held off MU late to secure the victory.
Jimmy Butler led MU with 22 points and six rebounds while Crowder finished with 15 points. Sophomore point guard Junior Cadougan chipped in with five points and a team-high seven assists against just one turnover. Big man Davante Gardner delivered nine points and four boards despite an injured left shoulder.
Box Score.
J-S game recap.
Rosiak blogs on the loss.
The Anonymous Eagle recaps the loss as well.
Normally, I would not be happy with a loss. But, this one was a bit different. After being unsure what he had, I now know, and am impressed.
ReplyDeleteThe first half doomed us because we couldn't make a shot. We were rebounding and getting turnovers, but could not capitalize. DJO came on a little too late and Blue was a bit slow to provide scoring support.
In all though, a 5 point loss is nothing to be ashamed of. I expect us to be solid throughout conference play this year.
Warriors don't finish second!
ReplyDeleteThere is no satisfaction in losing -- whether to Duke or Delaware State. The best thing about this game -- and the only takeaway -- is that we got valuable experience that will matter come February, March and dare I say, April.
This team is good. It needs to get better fast.