|
|
|
|
Chris Kubiet/Chronicle
DePaul’s Bobby Simmons drives on Marquette’s John Cliff.
|
Local college hoops roundup
Golden Eagles Stun Blue Demons, 69-60 |
by Graham Couch
Assistant Editor |
Thought to be emerging as a national power, DePaul took a step backward Wednesday night as they were outplayed by Marquette on their way to a 69-60 Conference loss.
|
|
|
Chris Kubiet/Chronicle
DePaul’s Quentin Richardson fights for a loose ball. He led the Blue Demons with 17 points.
|
Marquette (2-1, 9-5) first grabbed the lead with 9:43 left in the first half and never trailed again. The Golden Eagles took a 36-26 advantage into halftime in what Marquette first year Coach Tom Crean called the best half of basketball his team has played this year.
“I thought our players played with tremendous heart and courage and really tried to play a 40 minute game,” Crean said.
DePaul (2-1, 11-4) fought back early in the second half and tied the game at 44 with 11:49 remaining. But Marquette’s 60 percent shooting in the second half proved
to be too much for the 19th ranked Blue Demons to overcome.
“They were executing, we were not,” DePaul Coach Pat Kennedy said. “I give Marquette a lot of credit, but I didn’t feel any of our guys played well at all. We made a countless number of mistakes.”
After trailing by as much as seven, DePaul trimmed the lead to 57-54 on a basket and foul shot by Rashon Burno with 2:58 remaining. However, a three-pointer by Marquette’s Cordell Henry with 2:21 left gave the Golden Eagles a 60-55 lead and the momentum. DePaul never got any closer.
Henry, a sophomore guard, led Marquette with 21 points and shot 70 percent for the game, including 4-7 from three-point range.
“I can’t say enough about the complete game [Henry] played tonight,” Crean said. “He was tremendous.”
Henry ran the Golden Eagles offense and outplayed DePaul’s more touted point guard Burno.
“He just out played us tonight,” Burno said. “He wanted it more than I did. I hope this is a wake up call because nobody played well.”
All-American forward Quentin Richardson led the Blue Demons-who will probably drop out of the Top 25 with the loss-with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“I don’t think we deserve to be in the Top 25 after tonight’s game,” Kennedy said. “The way we played the last few games, there is no way we should be ranked.”
DePaul will try to stay in the Conference USA race when they travel to Louisville on Thursday and host St. Louis Saturday.
Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats continued to struggle as they lost to Penn State 82-49 Thursday night. The Nittany Lions used an early 15-4 run to take a 45-15 halftime advantage.
Northwestern (0-2, 4-10) got 12 points and seven rebounds from freshman Brody Deren in his first game back from a fractured elbow.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats as they travel to Michigan on Wednesday and Michigan State Saturday.
Loyola Ramblers
Freshman Jerell Parker scored 10 of his 18 points in a late first half run that gave the Ramblers a 26-25 lead at the break, but it was not enough as Wisconsin-Green Bay pulled away late for a 64-52 conference win Thursday night.
Loyola (0-3, 9-6) will host Chicago State on Tuesday and UIC on Saturday.
Illinois-Chicago Flames
The Flames were out rebounded 46-27 despite a decided height advantage as they lost at Wisconsin-Milwaukee 82-64 Thursday evening.
UIC (1-2, 6-11), who was led by Maurice Brown’s 13 points, could not overcome Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s nine three-pointers.
The Flames travel to UNC-Wilmington on Monday and to Loyola on Saturday.
Chicago State Cougars
Tim Bryant scored 17 points as the Cougars beat Indian-Purdue 63-60 in Indianapolis. Darrel Jones contributed 12 points along with 14 rebounds as Chicago State won their second straight game. They beat Oral Roberts on Jan. 8.
The Cougars (3-1, 6-7) will play at Loyola Tuesday, rematch IUPUI on Thursday at home, and then travel to Southern Utah on Saturday. |
|
|
