(25) Marquette 68 North Carolina State 65

RALEIGH, N.C. – Dominic James' 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining lifted Marquette (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today) past North Carolina State 68-65 on Monday night.

Jerel McNeal scored 20 points and James added 18 for the Golden Eagles (10-2).

Brandon Costner matched a season high with 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead N.C. State (7-2), which couldn't overcome 18 turnovers and had no answer down the stretch for James.

Marquette's diminutive point guard corralled the rebound of Ben McCauley's miss in traffic with about 30 seconds left and the game tied at 65-all. The Golden Eagles called timeout and James dribbled out most of the clock before coming left off a screen and swishing his third 3 of the final 4 minutes.

McCauley caught Costner's desperation inbounds heave, turned and hit a turnaround jumper – but it came an instant after the horn, and the forward was a step inside the 3-point arc anyway.

Official Basketball Box Score
Marquette vs NC State
12/22/08 7:00 pm at RBC Center

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VISITORS: Marquette 10-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 James, Dominic...... *  7-14   4-6    0-0    2  2  4   1  18  6  2  0  0  32
12 Burke, Dwight....... *  1-1    0-0    2-2    0  1  1   3   4  1  0  1  0  25
22 McNeal, Jerel....... *  9-18   0-3    2-2    2  1  3   3  20  0  4  2  4  38
23 Matthews, Wesley.... *  2-4    1-2    0-2    1  3  4   3   5  0  3  0  1  36
32 Hayward, Lazar...... *  6-12   2-5    2-2    2  4  6   3  16  1  1  0  0  35
02 Acker, Maurice......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  1  0  0  0   9
04 Hazel, Patrick......    2-3    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   3   4  0  0  1  2  12
10 Cubillan, David.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
33 Butler, Jimmy.......    0-4    0-0    1-2    1  0  1   0   1  0  0  0  1  11
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   27-56   7-16   7-10   8 17 25  18  68  9 10  4  8 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-33 39.4%   2nd Half: 14-23 60.9%   Game: 48.2%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  4-7  57.1%   Game: 43.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half:  4-6  66.7%   Game: 70.0%    2


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HOME TEAM: NC State 7-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
04 Fells, Courtney..... *  5-9    2-4    0-0    0  3  3   3  12  0  2  2  0  31
15 Ferguson, Trevor.... *  2-8    1-5    0-0    0  1  1   1   5  4  4  1  1  32
24 Mays, Julius........ *  2-4    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   4   4  1  3  0  0  16
33 Costner, Brandon.... *  9-10   5-5    1-1    1  7  8   2  24  4  2  0  2  32
34 McCauley, Ben....... *  2-5    0-0    4-6    0  4  4   1   8  2  0  0  2  28
02 Harris, Simon.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   0   0  0  1  1  0  10
10 Gonzalez, Javier....    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  2  0  0   2
12 Degand, Farnold.....    1-2    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  1  1  0  0  21
21 Williams, C.J.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  1  1  0  0   5
23 Smith, Tracy........    3-7    0-0    4-6    2  0  2   1  10  0  1  1  0  12
30 Thomas, Johnny......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   3
31 Horner, Dennis......    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   8
   TEAM................                         1  3  4
   Totals..............   24-47   8-16   9-13   7 22 29  13  65 13 18  5  5 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-24 54.2%   2nd Half: 11-23 47.8%   Game: 51.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-9  55.6%   2nd Half:  3-7  42.9%   Game: 50.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-5  80.0%   2nd Half:  5-8  62.5%   Game: 69.2%    3


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Officials: Karl Hess, Bernard Clinton, Mike Kitts
Technical fouls: Marquette-None. NC State-None.
Attendance: 16819
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Marquette.....................   32   36  -   68
NC State......................   35   30  -   65

Points in the paint-MU 24,ST 28. Points off turnovers-MU 18,ST 12.
2nd chance points-MU 8,ST 7. Fast break points-MU 10,ST 5.
Bench points-MU 5,ST 12. Score tied-7 times. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-MU 2nd-00:01, ST 2nd-01:58.
Largest lead-MU by 6 2nd-03:03, ST by 7 1st-16:22.