So it is one step forward, two steps backward for the Marquette Golden Eagles. On Saturday, they lost their second straight game, this time going down by a score of 77-70 to the Creighton Bluejays.
For the third straight game, the Golden Eagles were without leading scorer Matt Carlino and it fell to freshman Duane Wilson to carry them. Wilson performed admirably, leading all scorers with 26 points but was not able to take them past Creighton, who were led by Rick Kreklow who scored 19 points.
Kreklow began the game shooting lights out, and he scored 12 of the Bluejays first 19 points, helping them open up a 21-11 lead midway through the first half. Creighton as a team shot the ball superbly well in the first half, and went 7-11 from beyond the arc. It was all that Marquette could do to stay in the game.
However, stay in the game they did. Center Luke Fischer, one of only 2 other Golden Eagles in double figures, scored nine of his 11 points in the first period and had his own personal mini run at the end of the first half to make it only an eight point deficit at the half.
A repeated motif of this Marquette season has been that they will take leads into the half after a great first half performance and then squander them in the second period. Today was the complete opposite. After a truly dreadful first half showing, Marquette came out from the break and looked a completely different team.
Creighton was again shooting the ball well, but Wilson scored eight straight Marquette points to keep them in the game and then Steve Taylor Jr. went on his own eight point scoring spurt, cutting the Creighton lead to 50-45. The dynamic of the game had been completely reversed, and it seemed Creighton was capitulating in the style Marquette tends to.
Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the Bluejays had a response. Much as Taylor had provided a spark coming in off the bench so too did Will Artino for Creighton. He scored 10 of 15 Bluejays points and when fellow impact substitute Devin Brooks hit a layup with 8:06 remaining in the game, Creighton went up 65-55.
Still, the Golden Eagles would not go away and they roared back again. Wilson would not be denied, and he scored six of the next 10 Marquette points to bring the game back to 70-65 with just over a minute remaining. However, that was as close as they would get it and Creighton would go on to win 77-70.
The result means that both teams are co-last place in the Big East with identical 3-10 records. Creighton is now 12-14 (3-10 Big East) and will host Butler on Monday night. Meanwhile, Marquette is now 11-14 (3-10 Big East) and they will host Villanova next Saturday.