MILWAUKEE: Greg Elliott made a tiebreaking free throw with 1.7 seconds left and Marquette withstood a long second-half drought to beat No. 20 Seton Hall 73-72 on Saturday for its fourth straight victory.
The game was tied at 72-all when Elliott leaned forward around the 3-point arc and drew a foul on Seton Halls Bryce Aiken with 1.7 seconds remaining. After looking at replays, officials determined Elliott was fouled while attempting a two-point shot.
Elliott made the first free throw to put Marquette ahead. His second attempt bounced off the rim, and Jared Rhoden grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1.5 seconds left.
The ensuing inbounds pass from Seton Halls Alexis Yetna only went about 20 feet and slipped through the grasp of Tyrese Samuel before Marquettes Justin Lewis grabbed the ball as time expired.
The frantic finish helped Marquette (12-6, 4-3 Big East) win the first of six straight matchups against teams currently ranked in the Top 25. The Golden Eagles visit No. 14 Villanova, host No. 17 Xavier, travel to Seton Hall and No. 23 Providence and host Villanova in their next five games.
Seton Hall (11-5, 2-4) lost its second straight and ended a six-game winning streak in this series. The Pirates were coming off a 96-92 loss at DePaul, which had entered that game winless in Big East competition.
Darryl Morsell scored 26 points and Justin Lewis added 18 for Marquette, which won despite making just one basket in the first 8 minutes of the second half. Aiken had 28, Yetna 15 and Rhoden 12 for Seton Hall.
Marquette owned a 44-33 lead late in the first half by shooting 9 of 14 from 3-point range against a Seton Hall team that was leading the Big East in 3-point percentage defense. But the Pirates scored the final eight points of the first half and then took the lead by turning up their defense in the second half.
Marquette missed 14 of its first 15 shots in the second half. Even the Golden Eagles lone basket during that stretch didnt come from a made shot, as Kur Kuath was credited with two points on a Seton Hall goaltending call.
Kuath finally ended the drought by making a shot that cut Seton Halls lead to 55-52 with 11:28 remaining. Marquette rallied to pull ahead with just over seven minutes left, and the game went back and forth from there.
BIG PICTURE
Seton Hall: The Pirates had an overwhelming 47-26 rebounding advantage but couldn’t overcome their 20 turnovers.
Marquette: The Golden Eagles entered the day having shot 55.9% from the floor during their winning streak. They showed Saturday they can win even when they aren’t shooting well. They went 10 of 31 in the second half and shot 42.4% for the game.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Seton Hall figures to drop out of the Top 25 after two straight losses.
UP NEXT
Seton Hall: Host Providence on Tuesday.
Marquette: At Villanova on Wednesday.
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For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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