Marquette downs George Washington 76-60
FULLERTON, Calif. — Davante Gardner scored 20 points and had nine rebounds to lead No. 25 Marquette to a 76-60 victory over George Washington University on Friday in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy.
Marquette (5-2) used a 12-2 run early in the first half to build a double-digit lead, and never trailed.
The Colonials (5-1) tried to stage a couple of comebacks in the second half but never got any closer than 12 points in the second half.
George Washington hurt itself by shooting just 35 percent from the floor, and making just 15 of 25 free throws.
Gardner had 14 of his game-high 20 points, when the Golden Eagles built a 21-point halftime lead. Jake Thomas added 13 points for the Marquette.
The Colonials were led by Kethan Savage and Maurice Creek, who scored 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Gardner led the charge in separating the Golden Eagles from the Colonials in the first half, using his big body to create space in the paint while allowing his outside shooters to get open. The Golden Eagles’ leading scorer wasn’t shy about taking the ball to the basket either, matching his scoring average of 14 points in the first half.
Taking advantage of a miserable start by the Colonials, the Golden Eagles used a 12-2 run to stretch a three-point lead into a 17-4 advantage.
The Colonials (5-1) went into the game with a 52.1 field goal percentage and 47.1 percent on 3-point shots. In the first 20 minutes against Marquette, the Colonials hit only 8 of 28 field goal attempts (28.6 percent), and were 1 for 7 from 3-point range.
Marquette shot 47 percent from the floor in the first half but was still able to score twice as many field goals as Washington (16-8).
The Golden Eagles got 21 of their first-half points from 3-point range, connecting on 7 of 11 attempts.
The Colonials scored the first two baskets of the second half, but even that wasn’t easy. A short jumper by Maurice Creek was disallowed because of an offensive foul that was called on Kethan Savage. The call was changed to a foul against Marquette’s Juan Anderson, so Creek was awarded his basket.
The foul on Anderson gave the ball back to George Washington, and Isaiah Armwood scored on the possession to cut Marquette’s lead to 46-31.
Creek added a 3-point basket from the top of the key to complete a 9-1 run and get the Colonials to within 13 points.
The closest George Washington got to Marquette was 12 points. That was when McDonald scored on a layup, cutting the Golden Eagles’ advantage to 51-39 with 15:20 left in the game.
Marquette stretched its lead back to 18 points when Gardner scored on a layup midway through the second half.
George Washington continued its effort to get back into the contest, and had a chance to trim its deficit to 10 points with 5:51 remaining in the game, but Patricio Garino missed two free throws.
The Colonials made just 16 of 26 from the free throw line for the game.