Houston 67 Marquette 76

In their last home game of their careers, seniors Faisal Abraham, Chris Crawford, and Anthony Pieper carried Marquette to their 18th win of the season over the University of Houston, 67-67. Each of the seniors finished in double figures in scoring as they led a comeback charge late in the second half to defeat the Cougars.

Wearing the 1977 replica Marquette uniforms, MU stormed out to an early 10 point lead at 11:47 left in the first half. Houston cut the lead to 7 at halftime, Marquette leading 33-26.

At halftime, the 1977 NCAA championship team was honored on the 20th anniversary of their victory over North Carolina. A retrospective video was played and then the team was introduced individually along with coaches Hank Raymonds and Al McGuire. Coach McGuire briefly remarked on each of his players before the second half began. The crowd of 13,929 were brought to its feet for the special ceremony.

As the Golden Eagles returned from the extended halftime period, they seemed to come out flat to open the second period. Houston quickly narrowed Marquette's lead to two points with 14:23 remaining. A minute later, the Cougars had captured the lead and extended it to 47-43 with 12:51 left in the contest.

Chris Crawford got MU back on track with a 3 pointer to cut the lead to one. After a Houston basket, Anthony Pieper would tie the game on an old fashioned three point play with 9:23 remainining. Marquette would then take the lead for good on a transition basket from Chris Crawford.

The seniors each made big baskets in the last 5 minutes to seal the victory. The victory was accentuated by a great left handed dunk by Chris Crawford with 16.4 seconds left on the clock.

The win pushes MU's record to 18-8, and 9-5 in Conference USA. Marquette will enter the C-USA tournament as the 5th seed and will play DePaul in the first round in St. Louis at 8:30pm. If Marquette should win, they would play #4 Memphis at 8:30pm on Thursday.

                          1st  2nd   TOTAL
Houston        		   26   41    67
Marquette                  33   43    76

HOUSTON     
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Capers          34  4-11   0-0  3-10  2  2   10
Robinson        26  8-12   0-2   1-3  1  4   16
Knox            27   2-7   3-5   3-5  2  3    7
Mcbride         35   2-7   0-0   0-1  4  1    4
Jones           38   3-6   0-0   0-7  7  5    9
Braxton          2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0

Taylor          13   1-2   2-2   0-3  0  3    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-55  6-10  9-36 16 19   67
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.491, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
7-15, .467 (Capers 2-4, Mcbride 0-3, Jones 3-5,

(Robinson 2). Turnovers: 22 (Jones 10, Mcbride 3,
Robinson 3, Byrd 2, Capers 2, Knox, Taylor).
Steals: 3 (Capers 2, Mcbride).

MARQUETTE     
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Crawford        31  7-15   2-2   3-7  2  1   19
Abraham         30   5-6   3-4   1-4  0  1   13
Lovette         24  4-11   3-3   2-5  3  4   11
Pieper          36  5-10   2-4   0-4  4  1   14
Hutchins        16   1-9   0-0   0-0  1  0    2
Cliff            5   1-2   0-0   1-1  0  0    3
West            27   1-5   3-4   0-0  7  2    6
Joseph          10   0-2   2-2   2-2  0  0    2
Bargen          14   1-6   0-0   3-3  1  0    2
Shaw             7   1-2   2-2   0-2  0  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 26-68 17-21 12-28 18 10   76
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.382, FT-.810. 3-Point Goals:
7-28, .250 (Crawford 3-8, Pieper 2-6, Hutchins
0-7, Cliff 1-2, West 1-2, Bargen 0-3). Team
rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 7 (Abraham 4, Joseph
2, Crawford). Turnovers: 9 (Crawford 2, West 2,
Hutchins, Joseph, Lovette, Pieper, Shaw). Steals:
12 (Abraham 4, Crawford 3, Hutchins, Joseph,
Lovette, Pieper, West).
__________________________________
Houston            26   41  -   67
Marquette          33   43  -   76
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,929. Officials:
Larry Lembo, David Bair, Jag.