Marquette 75 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 72

The victory went to the Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday night, but there were some definite silver linings for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers.

The Panthers (3-4) trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half and 18 in the second half but took Marquette (5-2) down to the final seconds before the Golden Eagles emerged with a 75-72 victory at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

What at various times looked like it might be a lopsided victory for Marquette turned out to be a heart-stopper at the end.

“What we take from this is that we hit some adversity and unlike a few other games we've had, we responded to that adversity,” said UWM coach Rob Jeter. “I think that's what you take from it.

“There was a determination and an effort and I thought the passion to play the game was there, and that's the only way we can play this game to give ourselves a chance. So that's what we'll take from this.”

Marquette coach Buzz Williams drew some positives from the game, too.

“We were much more 'us' for more minutes than we were in the two neutral-site games,” Williams said of his team's games against Duke and Gonzaga in the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., last week. “We still have a ways to go on both ends of the floor, but I was encouraged by our spirit and passion.”

Darius Johnson-Odom led Marquette with 29 points and Jimmy Butler added 13. Johnson-Odom was on fire in the first half, sinking 8 of 9 shots, including all five of his three-pointers, and scoring 22 points as Marquette shot 66.7% and led, 47-35. UWM shot 53.6% in the first half but committed 10 turnovers.

Leading UWM was guard Ja'Rob McCallum with 19 points - 12 in the second half - and Anthony Hill, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Jeter pointed to Marquette's 21 points off UWM turnovers and the Golden Eagles' edge at the foul line as the key stats. UWM made 4 of 6 free throws compared with 13 of 16 for Marquette.

Even so, it was a step in the right direction for UWM, which was coming off a disheartening home loss to Western Michigan last week.

“We always talk about staying together and communicating with each other,” said Hill. “We just need chemistry with each other, and I feel like we held that chemistry. We didn't get rattled. We stayed solid. We take this and move forward.”

Said McCallum, “We definitely wanted to make a statement, especially coming off the last game. Especially playing against a good team like this, I think everyone's confidence should definitely be high. No heads should be held low.”

The Panthers, who had fought back from sizable deficits the entire game, trailed, 68-57, with 3 minutes 46 seconds left but had one more run in them. A three-pointer and layup by Tone Boyle cut the lead to 68-62, and a Marquette turnover led to a layup by Kaylon Williams that trimmed it to four with 1:27 left.

Dwight Buycks missed a three-pointer for Marquette, and Hill was fouled on the rebound with 51 seconds left. He made both free throws to cut the lead to two. Butler made two free throws with 26.9 seconds left, but a rebound-basket by Hill made it 70-68 with 12.2 seconds left.

Butler sank two free throws with 11.4 seconds to go, and Kaylon Williams made one foul shot to make it 72-69. Two free throws by Johnson-Odom put Marquette ahead by five, but McCallum drilled a three-point bomb with 1.2 seconds left to trim the lead to 74-72.

Jae Crowder made one foul shot with eight-tenths of a second to go, and UWM's Ryan Allen missed a desperation half-court three-point toss at the buzzer.

Whew.

“You have to respect a team like that,” said Johnson-Odom.

Marquette ran off 13 straight points to take a 16-point lead midway through the first half.

Darius Johnson-Odom put an end to his shooting woes on Saturday night, and just in the nick of time for the Marquette Golden Eagles.

The junior guard poured in a career-high 29 points on 10-for-14 shooting at the U.S. Cellular Arena, and MU wound up needing every one of them as it had to go down to the wire to defeat the UW-Milwaukee Panthers, 75-72.

Johnson-Odom also tied a career high by hitting 5 of 7 three-pointers, with all five of his makes and 22 of his points coming in 18 first-half minutes as he helped the Golden Eagles (5-2) out to a 47-35 halftime lead.

“DJO comes in the game. . . . I mean, everyone in the country knows he can shoot it,” said UWM coach Rob Jeter. “But what you hope is it's not you he comes out of the slump against. I think he was 5 of 20 coming into the game, and then he hits five out of five on us in the first half.

“And it's not as if we were daring him to shoot it. We were just trying to play a solid defense and keep guys out of the paint, and he had an unbelievable game for them.”

Last season, Johnson-Odom finished third on MU in scoring at 13.3 points per game, tops among its backcourt players after transferring in from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. He made his mark from beyond the arc, though, pacing the Golden Eagles with 73 three-pointers.

What was most impressive was Johnson-Odom's marksmanship. His 47.4% accuracy ranked him second in the Big East behind only teammate Maurice Acker's 49.5%, and the two helped the Golden Eagles finish the season ranked fourth in the country in three-point shooting at 41.4%.

Coming into Saturday, though, Johnson-Odom was shooting 32.8% overall and 20.0% from three. He had hit more than 1 three just once - he was 2 for 7 in the Golden Eagles' loss to No. 22 Gonzaga on Tuesday - and hadn't made any in two of his six games. By comparison, he failed to make a three in just three of 34 games a year ago.

But it was obvious from the start against UWM that Johnson-Odom was finally dialed in. The left-hander opened MU's scoring with a drive to the basket and then converted a traditional three-point play. He followed that with a pull-up jumper, then nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Johnson-Odom 10, UWM 4, 16 minutes 34 seconds left in the first half.

“The past couple of games I haven't been taking bad shots; they just weren't falling,” Johnson-Odom said. “I couldn't be pressed or stressed about that, because I was taking good shots. So I knew once I got rhythm, then I'll probably stay in rhythm.”

Johnson-Odom added his second three from the left wing about 4 minutes later, and his third, at the 11:05 mark, helped spur a 13-0 MU run that gave the Golden Eagles a 27-11 lead.

He got a couple minutes' rest on the heels of that surge, and UWM responded by pulling to within 35-27 with 5:10 left in the first half. But Johnson-Odom's fourth three at the 3:57 mark got MU's lead back into double digits, and his fifth, off the secondary break with 52.5 seconds remaining, made it 45-35.

Johnson-Odom hit a runner early in the second half but then, like the rest of his teammates, went silent for quite some time. But he added a big three-point play at the 6:19 mark, and then with 5.3 seconds left and UWM having gotten to within 72-69, Johnson-Odom calmly drained two big free throws to help provide some much-needed cushion.

“I don't know that he's going to score 22 points every half,” said MU coach Buzz Williams. “But man, when he's in a groove, I think he's really good.”

Perhaps taking their cue from Johnson-Odom, the Golden Eagles as a team turned in their most prolific night of the season from beyond the arc, hitting 8 of 19 (42.1%).

MU entered the game shooting 28.4% of its threes.

Official Basketball Box Score
Marquette vs Milwaukee
11/27/10 8 p.m. at Milwaukee, Wis. (U.S. Cellular Arena)


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VISITORS: Marquette 5-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
33 Butler, Jimmy....... f  3-9    0-1    7-8    1  1  2   1  13  2  3  0  1  35
42 Otule, Chris........ c  2-2    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   3   4  1  1  4  0  19
01 Johnson-Odom, Darius g 10-14   5-7    4-4    0  4  4   2  29  3  1  0  0  35
05 Cadougan, Junior.... g  2-4    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   4   4  2  3  1  2  30
23 Buycks, Dwight...... g  3-8    1-4    0-0    0  5  5   0   7  6  3  0  5  35
02 Blue, Vander........    3-7    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   7  0  2  0  1  20
12 Williams, Erik......    1-2    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   6
32 Crowder, Jae........    3-6    1-3    2-4    1  5  6   3   9  1  0  0  1  20
   TEAM................                         1     1
   Totals..............   27-52   8-19  13-16   3 19 22  15  75 15 13  5 10 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-27 66.7%   2nd Half:  9-25 36.0%   Game: 51.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  8-11 72.7%   2nd Half:  0-8   0.0%   Game: 42.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half: 10-12 83.3%   Game: 81.3%    2


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HOME TEAM: Milwaukee 3-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
21 MEIER, Tony......... f  5-9    3-5    0-0    2  4  6   5  13  1  2  3  0  33
23 HILL, Anthony....... f  8-14   0-0    2-2    4  4  8   3  18  5  5  0  1  37
02 WILLIAMS, Kaylon.... g  5-10   1-2    1-3    0  4  4   1  12  5  2  0  2  37
11 BOYLE, Tone......... g  3-9    2-6    0-0    0  1  1   0   8  1  0  1  0  28
32 BOGA, Lonnie........ g  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   0  1  0  0  0  13
01 McCALLUM, Ja'Rob....    8-13   2-5    1-1    0  5  5   3  19  0  2  0  0  27
03 KELM, Kyle..........    0-1    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   0   0  0  1  0  0   9
04 ALLEN, Ryan.........    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   2   0  1  3  0  0   7
30 AJAMI, Jerard.......    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   2  0  0  0  0   9
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   30-59   8-18   4-6   11 23 34  18  72 14 15  4  3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6%   2nd Half: 15-31 48.4%   Game: 50.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-8  62.5%   2nd Half:  3-10 30.0%   Game: 44.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  0-0   0.0%   2nd Half:  4-6  66.7%   Game: 66.7%    1


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Officials: Tim Higgins, Jeff Anderson, Bill McCarthy
Technical fouls: Marquette-None. Milwaukee-None.
Attendance: 7120
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Marquette.....................   47   28  -   75
Milwaukee.....................   35   37  -   72
ID-913575
UWM #21 Tony Meier fouled out 0:26.9 remaining

Points in the paint-MU 34,UWM 34. Points off turnovers-MU 21,UWM 6.
2nd chance points-MU 4,UWM 10. Fast break points-MU 16,UWM 12.
Bench points-MU 18,UWM 21. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-MU 2nd-03:46, UWM 2nd-00:01.
Largest lead-MU by 18 2nd-17:38, UWM by 4 1st-18:32.