Marquette 84 Seton Hall 83

Newark, N.J. – How does 3 for 3 sound?

Just great to the Marquette Golden Eagles, who came out on the right end of their third consecutive overtime game in as many tries on the road in just eight days' time, this time defeating the Seton Hall Pirates, 84-83, at the Prudential Center on Sunday afternoon.

The victory, which could easily be called season-defining, might very well go a long way in solidifying the Golden Eagles' NCAA tournament resume. It also gave them 10 Big East wins for the fifth straight year as a member of the league, a feat matched over that same span only by the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Lazar Hayward scored 23 points to lead MU (19-9), and moved into third place on MU's all-time scoring list in the process. Darius Johnson-Odom and David Cubillan added 16 apiece, Jimmy Butler 13 and Maurice Acker 12 as the Golden Eagles overcame the absence of key reserve Dwight Buycks (upper respiratory infection) and a minus-10 differential on the glass.

Jeff Robinson came off the bench to score a game-high 25 points for Seton Hall (16-11, 7-9), which likely had its fleeting NCAA tournament hopes dashed with the loss, while Jeremy Hazell scored 19 points, all of which came in the second half.

Seton Hall used a 13-3 run early in the second half, capped by Hazell's first three-pointer, to take its first lead at 42-41 with 13:02 remaining.

The game saw five lead changes and six ties heading into the final minute, with MU going up, 69-67, on a Hayward layup with 35.4 seconds remaining. Seton Hall tied it on the other end at 69-69 on a pair of Eugene Harvey free throws with 28.9 seconds left.

The Golden Eagles got the ball upcourt and called timeout to set up a final play in front of their bench with 16.0 seconds left and ultimately got a good look, with Hayward squaring up and shooting a three-pointer from just to the right of the top of the key. It appeared he rushed the shot a bit, though, and it hit off the front of the rim at the buzzer, and MU went into its third straight overtime game.

The Golden Eagles got out front early in the extra session, with Cubillan hitting a three from the top of the key, and looked to have the game all but wrapped up after Acker hit four straight free throws, the second of which gave them a 82-77 lead with 32.0 seconds remaining.

The worst-case scenario for MU came true on the other end, though, when Hazell buried a three-pointer from deep on the left wing while also being fouled by Johnson-Odom. Hazell's free throw made it 82-81 with 25.5 seconds left, and breathed some life into the crowd of 9,475.

Butler split a pair of free throws on the other end to make it 83-81 with 22.1 seconds left. The Pirates, with no timeouts remaining, got the ball upcourt quickly and into the hands of Hazell. His three came up short and was rebounded by Seton Hall's Keon Lawrence, but Lawrence stepped on the baseline, giving the ball to MU.

The Pirates immediately fouled Cubillan on the inbounds. With 11.0 seconds left, he hit the first and missed the second, with Seton Hall rebounding. Getting the ball upcourt quickly again, the Pirates again got it into the hands of Hazell, but his three-point attempt was short again.

Herb Pope rebounded the miss and laid it in to cut it to 84-83, but by that point only 0.6 seconds remained. Butler then quickly inbounded it to Hayward, and the buzzer sounded, giving the Golden Eagles their third consecutive overtime victory.

MU went 10 for 12 from the free-throw line in overtime, and 19 for 25 for the game (76.0%). Seton Hall, which shot 65.4% in the second half, was 9 for 13 from the charity stripe for the game.

It also marked the first time since the 1981-'82 season MU had played three straight overtime games.

MU came out red-hot in the first half, knocking down the first 5 three-pointers it took in the opening 4:56 – including three from Hayward – to jump out to an early 15-6 lead.

The Golden Eagles opened their lead to 23-13 on a Cubillan layup at the 11:12 mark, and despite a prolonged cold spell kept it at 10 points at 29-19 after a hanging jumper by Maurice Acker with 4:41 remaining.

That would be their last field goal of the half, but they did manage to go 5 for 6 from the free-throw line the rest of the way, with two of those charity tosses coming courtesy of a technical on Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez with 2:50 left.

Butler hit a pair with 1:31 remaining to close out the half and send MU into the locker room with a 34-26 lead despite committing one more turnover than assist (eight to seven), and surrendered nine offensive rebounds to the Pirates.

Hayward led the way with 15 points, and the Golden Eagles needed every one of them with neither Butler (five points, three turnovers, two fouls) nor Johnson-Odom (three points, two turnovers) having a strong half.

Also helping was some strong defense on Hazell, who went scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting in 15 minutes.