MILWAUKEE (AP) – It was freshmen night for Marquette.
Freshman Dominic James scored 16 points and fellow freshmen Jerel McNeal added 14 to lead Marquette to an 82-65 victory over Rice Friday night in the first round of the Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic.
Marquette (1-0) advances to play Winthrop Saturday night in the championship game of the tournament, which the Golden Eagles have won the past six years. Winthrop beat IUPUI 73-50 in the opening game of the tournament. In all, Marquette has won 14 straight games in the Blue & Gold Classic.
Marquette started three freshmen and all played a role in the win. James handed out 9 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds, McNeal also had 6 rebounds and Wesley Matthews chipped in 7 points.
Senior Steve Novak hit 3 of 7 3-pointers to add 13 points. Junior Jamil Lott had 9 points.
J.R. Harrison led Rice (0-1) with 18 points, while Jamal Moore added 14 points.
Harrison's jumper with 14:42 left cut Marquettes lead to 47-40.
But the Golden Eagles went on a 15-5 run to grab a 62-45 lead when Matthews scored on a drive with 9:30 remaining, was fouled and hit the free throw to give Marquette its biggest lead of the game.
Rice came back to cut the lead to 66-56 when Moore scored on a dunk with 5:14 left. But Marquette put the game away with an 8-3 run to grab a 74-59 lead with 2:48 remaining when Lott dunked off of an assist from James.
Marquette scored the last 11 points of the first half, capped by Ryan Amoroso's layup with 35 seconds to go, for a 39-32 halftime lead.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rice vs Marquette
11/18/05 8 p.m. at Bradley Center-Milwaukee, Wis.
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VISITORS: Rice 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Jamaal Moore........ f 5-12 0-1 4-7 3 2 5 4 14 3 1 0 0 30
34 J.R. Harrison....... f 8-14 1-3 1-2 1 4 5 1 18 1 2 1 1 38
41 Patrick Britton..... f 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 17
05 Lorenzo Williams.... g 3-13 1-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 7 5 3 0 1 32
22 Morris Almond....... g 5-14 1-4 0-0 1 0 1 3 11 4 3 0 1 29
04 Matt Hagen.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 10
21 Rodney Foster....... 1-5 1-4 0-0 1 0 1 1 3 1 0 0 0 13
32 Cory Pflieger....... 2-4 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 10
43 Aleks Perka......... 2-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 4 1 1 0 2 21
TEAM................ 3 3 6 1
Totals.............. 27-69 6-22 5-9 13 15 28 20 65 15 12 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-34 38.2% 2nd Half: 14-35 40.0% Game: 39.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 55.6% 3
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HOME TEAM: Marquette 1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 Novak, Steve........ f 4-9 3-7 2-2 0 2 2 1 13 2 0 0 0 35
51 Lott, Jamil......... f 3-3 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 2 9 0 0 0 0 26
01 James, Dominic...... g 4-12 3-7 5-7 1 5 6 3 16 9 2 1 1 30
22 McNeal, Jerel....... g 5-7 1-2 3-3 0 6 6 3 14 1 8 2 2 31
23 Matthews, Wesley.... g 3-4 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 3 7 1 4 0 1 15
05 Fitzgerald, Dan..... 3-6 2-3 1-2 3 5 8 1 9 8 2 0 1 24
32 Chapman, Joe........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 3 0 1 0 18
33 Grimm, Chris........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
41 Barro, Ousmane...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 4 0 2 1 0 6
43 Amoroso, Ryan....... 4-7 0-1 2-2 0 4 4 0 10 0 2 0 0 13
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 28-51 9-20 17-21 9 30 39 15 82 24 20 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-25 60.0% Game: 54.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-11 45.5% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 45.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 9-10 90.0% Game: 81.0% 3
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Officials: Jim Haney, Ray Perone, Michael Stephens
Technical fouls: Rice-None. Marquette-None.
Attendance: 11218
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rice.......................... 32 33 - 65
Marquette..................... 39 43 - 82
44th Annual Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic First Round
Rice OR% 30.2 DR% 62.5
MU OR% 37.5 DR% 69.8
Points in the paint-RICE 26,MARQ 34. Points off turnovers-RICE 23,MARQ 13.
2nd chance points-RICE 18,MARQ 9. Fast break points-RICE 9,MARQ 12.
Bench points-RICE 13,MARQ 23. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Largest lead-RICE by 6 1st-10:43, MARQ by 18 2nd-08:13.