Marquette 74, Georgetown 71: Howard leaves early but Golden Eagles still win

WASHINGTON - Marquette showed on Tuesday night that there is so much more to its team than Markus Howard. 

The junior guard exited just over three minutes into the game with a back injury, but the Golden Eagles were able to hold off Georgetown, 74-71, at Capital One Arena for a statement victory.

"He's been experiencing some low-back soreness," MU coach Steve Wojciechowski said of his leading scorer. "I'm not going to put a guy out there unless he is 100 percent, especially Markus.

"He wanted to give it a try and he did not look like Markus. So we're not going to put him in jeopardy. Fortunately the other guys stepped up."

MU, which is ranked 13th in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 15 by the Associated Press, was also playing without junior big man Ed Morrow Jr., who hurt his ankle against Seton Hall on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles, (15-3, 4-1 Big East) had several big contributors against the Hoyas (12-6, 2-3), but chief among them was junior Sam Hauser.

Without Howard's Big East-leading 25.8 points per game, Hauser stepped into the scoring void. He had a collegiate-high 31 points on 10-for-20 shooting. The 6-foot-8 forward also had to assume some ball-handling duties with Howard on the bench.

"I've done it before," Hauser said. "Nothing I am not accustomed to. With Markus and Ed being out, there was a lot of next-man-up mentality for our whole team."

BOX SCORE: MU 74, Georgetown 71

Freshman Brendan Bailey played a season-high 27 minutes and had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting. The 6-foot-9, long-limbed Bailey also played harassing defense against lightning fast Georgetown point guard James Akinjo. 

"I saw an incredible performance by a freshman," Wojciechowski said. "Being called to action and delivering at the level he did - obviously everybody's going to say 'Oh yeah he had nine points.'

"The points were great. His defense was better. He was fantastic defensively. He was guarding the point guard a lot and that kid is quick on quick."

The 21-year-old Bailey was playing for the first time in the city where he spent his two-year Mormon mission. He had about 20 friends in the crowd that he made during that time. 

"I absolutely love this city; love the people," Bailey said. "It was just an amazing experience to come out here and play and for us to get the win."

To seal that victory, MU needed some big plays down the stretch.

Hauser hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to give MU a 72-70 lead with 1:06 remaining. 

Georgetown's Mac McClung, who finished with 24 points, hit a free throw 20 seconds later and then MU's Sacar Anim missed a shot near the basket with 19 seconds left. 

But Anim hustled back on defense and swatted a shot attempt from Akinjo out of bounds. 

Georgetown then called a timeout to set up a play for the final 11 seconds. Akinjo again tried to attack the basket but MU's 6-9 rim protector Theo John was there to emphatically reject the shot attempt.

"Those are winning plays," Hauser said. "That's what we talk about. You got to make winning plays to win the game and obviously we made those."

Hauser corralled the ball and then hit the two clinching free throws. That gave him a collegiate high, surpassing the 30 points he scored at Butler last season. 

He really likes playing in Washington. Last season, he scored 28 points on 7-for-8 three-point shooting at Capital One Arena.

"Luck of the draw, I guess," Hauser said. "Pretty cool arena to play in, obviously a NBA arena. Shots have been falling here, so I'll take it."

The list of contributors keeps going.

Freshman Joey Hauser had to battle Georgetown's 6-10 Jessie Govan, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

"He competed his butt off," Sam Hauser said of his 6-9 younger brother. "Coming in, Govan was averaging 25 (points) and 10 (rebounds) in conference play. 

"He was obviously a big emphasis in the scouting report and Joey worked his butt off and held him in check. Really, keeping their leading scorer out of the game like that was huge for us."

John tied his collegiate-high with 14 points. Anim had 10 points and also helped out at point guard.

Without Morrow, senior center Matt Heldt played 10 minutes and was on the court for most of the stretch when MU ripped off a 14-0 run after Georgetown had taken an eight-point lead early in the second half.

"You can go down the line," Sam Hauser said. "Just overall it was a great team win."