No. 15 Marquette routs Northern Iowa 73-43

It sure didn't take long for Northern Iowa to realize it was in for a long night against 15th-ranked Marquette on Friday.

Just 35 seconds into the final game of the day in the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the Sears Centre, the Golden Eagles had already recorded 2 steals. About seven minutes later, they were embarking on a 20-0 run, making the only unanswered question of the night not who would win, but by how much.

"That hurt," said Panthers freshman guard Johnny Moran, a graduate of Jacobs High School. "We had our game plan working there for a little while, but we just didn't dig in, we didn't stick to it.

"It's demoralizing."

That was exactly the game plan for the Golden Eagles, who came into their first contest away from Milwaukee with designs of shutting down the Panthers' high-flying offense.

"We knew they were a good team, and we wanted to take them out of everything they do - I think we did a good job of that tonight," said Marquette guard Dominic James, who finished with 8 points, 6 assists and a pair of steals. "Start to finish, that was a great job."

By the time the buzzer had mercifully sounded and the few thousand or so spectators began filing out, the Golden Eagles had themselves an easy 73-43 victory, setting up a showdown with Dayton in the tournament finale today at 7 p.m.

Wesley Matthews led the Golden Eagles with 17 points, followed by Lazar Hayward with 15 and Jerel McNeal with 13, but it was a defense that held the Panthers to 18-for-51 shooting from the floor that had Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams buzzing.

"We grew up and matured from a defensive standpoint tonight - numbers-wise for sure," Williams said. "We're trying. We understand how important it is."

Northern Iowa was led in scoring by guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe with 11 points. Moran, who came in leading the team with a 14.8 scoring average, was held to just 5.

While Marquette cruised Friday, Dayton had to go to overtime to edge Auburn 60-59.

Doesn't mean it won't be a challenge.

"Dayton is very, very talented," Williams said of tonight's matchup. "They haven't lost a game, they're well-coached, they're 11 men deep and they're very, very fast."