MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES

Marquette 70, Seton Hall 66: Golden Eagles still undefeated at home

Ben Steele
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Marquette'd Sam Hauser shoots during the first half against Seton Hall on Saturday.

The Marquette Golden Eagles are majoring in drama.

MU had to fight off a tough Seton Hall team in the second half to claim a gritty, 70-66 victory Saturday afternoon at Fiserv Forum. 

And this time the Golden Eagles (14-3, 3-1 Big East) didn't need a historic performance from junior guard Markus Howard.

Howard led MU with 26 points against the Pirates (12-5, 3-2). It wasn't quite on the level of the school-record 53 he scored in the overtime thriller against Creighton on Wednesday. 

But the Golden Eagles, ranked 19th in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 21 by the Associated Press, got big plays from others down the stretch and improved to 12-0 at their new arena.

BOX SCORE: Marquette 70, Seton Hall 66

"It was another big-time college basketball game," MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "It may not have been as artistic as the last game, but it was beautiful all the same. It was an old-fashioned fistfight."

MU was able to out-slug Seton Hall because of the Golden Eagles got a rugged effort from 6-foot-9, 240-pound sophomore center Theo John. 

John had his second collegiate double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Big East leader in blocks also had three rejections and altered several others. He played a season-high 31 minutes because his backup, junior Ed Morrow Jr., left late in the first half with an ankle injury and didn't return.

"Two minutes into the second half, I realized Ed was out," John said. "Then I just knew I had to step up."

John was huge in the closing minutes.

Seton Hall had rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit and was ahead, 63-62, when John pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled with 2:12 remaining. 

John hit two free throws to give MU the lead for good. He also had a key defensive rebound after Seton Hall's Myles Powell missed a three-pointer at the 1:10 mark.

John later drew a foul while boxing out for a rebound with 7 seconds remaining and the Golden Eagles clinging to a 67-65 advantage.

He made one free throw but missed another. Wojciechowski then intentionally had his team foul Seton Hall's Quincy McKnight with a three-point lead.

McKnight made his first free throw and then missed his second attempt intentionally. MU's Sam Hauser grabbed the rebound, was fouled and then sank two free throws to seal the victory.

"I didn't want Powell to tie the game (on a three-pointer)," Wojciechowski said of the strategy. "I think you have to go by feel on that. I don't think necessarily there should be a hard-and-fast rule.

"But when Myles Powell is on the other team, let's try to rely on our free-throw block-outs. And we did and Sam came up with a huge rebound."

Powell finished with 21 points to lead Seton Hall. His three-pointer gave the Pirates their last lead at 63-62 at the 3:05 mark. 

But the Golden Eagles' Sacar Anim harassed Powell into missing his last two shots. On a late Seton Hall possession, Anim also fought through a double screen to force Powell to give up the ball, leading to a missed three-pointer by McKnight with seven seconds left.

Anim was also a key contributor on offense. He had 14 points and had a key assist on a layup by Joey Hauser with 27 seconds remaining.

"I thought (Anim) had a terrific all-around game," Wojciechowski said. "Powell is so good that you're not going to stop him.

"You want to try to make everything as hard on him as possible. And I thought with the exception of one three late, and that wasn't Sacar's responsibility, he did a good job of making life hard on him."

Those efforts helped MU get the victory despite 20 turnovers and going 0 for 9 on three-pointers in the second half. Howard didn't score in the last 5 minutes and 31 seconds.

"Games like Markus had (at Creighton) don't come around very often," said Sam Hauser, who in the game became the 50th player to reach 1,000 points at MU.

"Today he missed some shots that he made last game, which is going to happen. A lot of other guys stepped up."