
Louisville Downs Marquette, 75-65
February 08, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2001
By CHRIS DUNCAN
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Rashad Brooks scored 14 points and Louisville held Marquette to one field goal in the final 7:42 of a 75-65 win Thursday night.
Marques Maybin scored 12 points, Muhammed Lasege added a career-high 12, and Reece Gaines and Erik Brown added 11 each for Louisville (9-14, 5-5 Conference USA), which beat Marquette for the fourth time in the last five meetings.
Oluoma Nnamaka and Cordell Henry scored 19 apiece to lead Marquette (11-9, 6-3), which shot 24 percent in the second half and 34 percent for the game.
Louisville trailed by nine at halftime but started the second half with a 9-2 run. Marquette missed six of its first eight second-half shots, and Reece Gaines' 3-pointer with 16:24 left cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 41-39.
Marquette built the lead back to eight, but four free throws by Maybin capped an 8-0 Louisville run that tied the game at 49-49 midway through the second half.
The game was tied 55-55 when Rashad Brooks' three-point play after a steal gave the Cardinals their first lead with 6:19 remaining.
Louisville built its lead to five, but Odartey Blankson sank a free throw with 3:08 remaining to pull Marquette to 64-60. Brooks answered with a baseline jumper with 2:48 left for a six-point Louisville advantage.
The lead reached nine as Marquette went cold. Brian Wardle sank two free throws with 39.1 seconds left to cut Louisville's margin to seven at 69-62. Gaines scored inside 16 seconds later.
Henry's 3-pointer with 15.5 seconds left snapped a seven-minute Marquette field-goal drought and cut Louisville's lead to six.
The Cardinals sank four free throws for the final margin. Louisville finished 23-of-29 from the line (79 percent) and outrebounded the Eagles 37-34.
Marquette led throughout the first half. A baseline jumper by Ellis Myles and two free throws by Brooks capped a 7-2 Louisville spurt that trimmed the deficit to 32-29.
Henry sank his third 3-pointer of the first half with 1:29 left to restore a six-point Marquette lead. Nnamaka and Jon Harris hit two free throws each in the half's final minute to push the lead to 10.
Bryant Northern sank a free throw with 1.4 seconds left before halftime to cut the lead 39-30.
The Eagles came into the game allowing just 62.5 points per game.