Penn State 85, Marquette 80: NIT run comes to end

Marquette's final game of the season had a familiar theme.

The Golden Eagles just couldn't get the defensive stops they needed.

Penn State held off a spirited MU comeback and came away with an 85-80 victory Tuesday in the  National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals at the Al McGuire Center.

The Nittany Lions (24-13) matched their biggest lead at 67-53 with 7 minutes 14 seconds remaining. 

The Golden Eagles (21-14) trimmed the lead to 72-68 with 2:39 left. But Penn State responded with two straight baskets, and MU couldn't recover.

BOX SCORE: Penn State 85, Marquette 80

"I thought our guys left it all out on the court," Golden Eagles coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "I thought our guys showed great resolve to not quit fighting.

"I thought early in the game, we got knocked back by their physicality. That's as physical a team, across the board, that we've played."

Penn State sophomore forward Lamar Stevens was the biggest problem for MU, piling up 30 points. He hit the back-to-back shots late in the fourth quarter that broke the Golden Eagles' spirits.

Sophomore guard Tony Carr added 25, repeatedly getting to the line and finishing 11 of 14 on free throws.

Senior guard Andrew Rowsey led the Golden Eagles with 29 points, earning a couple of school records in the process.

His three free throws late in the game got MU within four and also sent him past Dwyane Wade's 710 points for the highest scoring season in school history.

Rowsey finished the season with 716 points.

He also shot 6 of 11 on three-pointers against Penn State to top Steve Novak (121) for the most triples in a season with 125.

After the final buzzer, the MU fans at the Al McGuire Center serenaded the senior with chants of "An-drew Row-sey! An-drew Ro-wsey!"

An emotional Rowsey did not want to answer questions after the game but his teammates spoke glowingly of the guard's season.

"I'm really happy he was able to close his career the way he did," sophomore guard Markus Howard said. "He's going to go down as one of the best to ever play here at Marquette. I'm just fortunate I was able to play with him for two years."

Howard finished with 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting.

Sophomore wing Sam Hauser finished with 13 points, including two big three-pointers in MU's fourth-quarter rally.

But Hauser has been bothered by a hip injury that he said started in August and steadily worsened throughout the season. 

He confirmed he will have surgery in the coming weeks and expects the recovery process to take five to six months.

Hauser gutted it out in the NIT even though the injury hindered his movement.

He felt his team showed a lot of fight with two victories in the NIT and falling just short of the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"Coach said it all the time, 'Even though its not the (NCAA) Tournament, it's playing in March and a lot of teams probably wish they were in the NIT like we are,' " Hauser said. "And we learned how to find a way to win a couple games in March and we approached it in the right way.

"So I think with what we did over the last couple games, I think it could spring board us into next year."

But this MU season is over.

"It's not how we wanted it to end," Howard said. "I didn't want to stop playing with these guys. I love this team.

"I think we fought hard. We approached this tournament very maturely for how young we are as a team."

Wojciechowski said he saw a lot of growth from his team that finished 9-9 in the Big East. 

"Our young guys all made great strides," Wojciechowski said. "We showed some real toughness in a couple instances where guys were dealing with some significant injuries and never complained.

"We were 4-7 in the Big East and had the youngest team (in the conference). A lot of young teams would have mailed it in and said 'this is too hard,' but our team didn't and put ourselves in a position to be in the postseason."