No. 17 Marquette routs Grambling State

MILWAUKEE — Chris Otule scored 17 points and Steve Taylor added 16 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 17 Marquette roll over Grambling State 114-71 on Tuesday night.

The last time Marquette (2-0) reached the century mark came in a 102-77 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 21, 2010.

Deonte Burton added 14 points, JuJuan Johnson 12 and Jamil Thomas, Juan Anderson and Jake Thomas each a had 11 for Marquette.

The Golden Eagles took command early and led by as much as 23 in the first half as Otule scored 13 points and Davante Gardner and Burton each added 10 for a 52-35 lead. Then Thomas hit consecutive 3s and added a layup to spark a 12-0 run that opened the second half and sealed the win.

Chandler Thomas scored 26 points and A’Torri Shine added 17 for Grambling State (0-2), which has lost 30 straight games.

Marquette’s 114 points are the most the team has scored since a 118-60 win over Wis.-Milwaukee on January 14, 1969.

The victory extended the Golden Eagles’ homecourt winning streak to 27 games, the second longest in Division I. South Dakota State leads with a 30-game mark. Marquette hopes to keep it going when they host No. 10 Ohio State on Saturday.

Otule had 13 points and Davante Gardner and Burton each had 10 as Marquette owned the paint on their end and controlled the boards on the other end. The Golden Eagles scored 40 points in the paint and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and led 52-35 at the half.

Gardner, who was scoreless in the second half, muscled his way to the hoop on three layups and a tip-in in the first half.

Shine, a junior college transfer from Southern-Shreveport, scored 21 points in his debut in the 96-58 road loss to DePaul Saturday.

Junior Derrick Wilson, Marquette’s new starting point guard, had a career-high 10 assists with just one turnover.