No. 21 Marquette beats Providence 79-72
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jae Crowder scored 18 points and reserve Jamil Wilson had a career-best 16 to lead No. 21 Marquette to a 79-72 win over Providence on Saturday night.
Wilson and Davante Gardner combined for all the points in a 14-3 run that carried the Golden Eagles (16-4, 5-2 Big East) to their fourth straight league win. Darius Johnson-Odom added 16 points and Gardner finished with seven.
Bryce Cotten led the Friars (12-8, 1-6) with 28 points and LaDonte Henton had 14.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was Marquette's first conference road victory and Golden Eagles' coach Buzz Williams got the 99th win of his career.
Wilson gave Marquette a 62-57 edge with 10:45 to play when he hit a jumper from the top and followed that with a 3 from the left corner.
After Gerard Coleman had a basket for Providence, Wilson had consecutive baskets in the lane, pushing the Golden Eagles' lead to 66-59 with 8:02 left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gardner then took over the scoring. He scored in the lane, hit one free throw and a putback made it an 11-point lead with 3:51 remaining.
Marquette hit 11 of its first 14 shots to open the second half.
The Friars beat then-No. 14 Louisville by 31 points in their last home game, coming on Jan. 10.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tempo was much slower at the start of the second half, with both teams tightening up man defenses, forcing each to run half-court offenses.
The Friars led 40-39 at intermission.
In the first half, Providence handled Marquette's man to man defense easily early, getting wide open jumpers and pulled to a 14-6 lead 3:46 into the contest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was similar to Marquette's last game on Monday when Louisville pulled to an 18-2 lead before the Golden Eagles roared back en route to a 74-63 victory.
The Golden Eagles called timeout, switched to a trapping half-court defense and halted the Friars' momentum, going on a 20-3 run over the ensuing 6:46. Crowder had seven points and Johnson-Odom nailed a pair of 3s, both coming from the right wing.
The Friars then called time-out and responded by scoring 14 of the next 18 points before the teams settled down and stayed tight through the remainder of the half.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Council's free throw with 1 second left gave Providence its halftime edge.
The Friars shot just 30.6 percent (11 of 36) in the first half, but grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to overcame the shoddy shooting.