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Marquette crushes No. 9 Notre Dame

Jan 11, 2011 - 5:29 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Dwight Buycks had 21 points to help Marquette to a dominating 79-57 win over No. 9 Notre Dame in a Big East battle at Bradley Center.

Jae Crowder had 18 points and seven rebounds and Jimmy Butler added 15 points, six boards and four assists for the Golden Eagles (12-5, 3-1 Big East), who bounced back from a loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Darius Johnson-Odom donated 13 points and five helpers in the win.

"It's a big win we pulled out here today," said Marquette head coach Buzz Williams. "You have to do everything you can to win at home and everything you can to split on the road if you want to succeed."

Eric Atkins had 15 points and Scott Martin contributed 10 points and 11 boards for the Irish (14-3, 3-2), who had won their previous two. Tim Abromaitis had 10 points in the defeat.

"We weren't able to get into any rhythm early," said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "You gotta get points early if you want to build some confidence."

Notre Dame never had a lead in this game and the last tie came about five minutes in when Abromaitis' three-pointer made it a 7-7 game.

Crowder countered with consecutive three-balls, and a Chris Otule layup made it a 15-7 game.

The Irish were able to keep it close for the remainder of the half and were only down by three after a jumper from Martin, but Butler put in two free throws for the final points of the half to give the Eagles a 33-28 lead at the break.

Marquette slowly built on its lead in the first several minutes of the second half and blew the game open with an 11-2 run that was capped by a pair of free throws from Johnson-Odom for a 55-38 lead with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Eagles built their lead to 25 points on a Buycks layup with 5 1/2 minutes to play and coasted to the finish line.

Game Notes

The Golden Eagles shot 12-of-17 from long range and finished the game shooting 53.1 percent...Marquette plays at Louisville on Saturday...Notre Dame plays at St. Johns on Sunday...The Irish made just 39.6 percent of their shots...Notre Dame leads the series, 78-36, but Marquette has won four of the last six and 10 of the past 15.