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No. 21 Marquette flies past Providence

Jan 22, 2012 - 3:15 AM Providence, RI (Sports Network) - Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder each scored 18 points to lead No. 21 Marquette to a 79-72 victory over Providence.

Jamil Wilson tallied 16 points and Todd Mayo scored 10 for the Golden Eagles (16-4, 5-2 Big East), who won their fourth straight game.

Bryce Cotton had 28 points for the Friars (12-8, 1-6), who have dropped six of their last seven contests.

The Friars overcame a horrendous first half and led 40-39 after 20 minutes, this despite Providence going 11-of-36 from the field. Vincent Council's free throw in the closing seconds provided the margin and capped a half-ending 9-3 spurt.

In a back-and-forth second half, the Golden Eagles started to gain control at the midway point. Gerard Coleman's layup had the hosts within 62-59 with 10 minutes left, but Wilson countered with a layup and a jumper. That was part a sizzling 68.2 percent shooting performance (15-of-22) in the second half for the Golden Eagles.

Davante Gardner then scored the final five points of Marquette's rally that yielded a 71-60 score inside four minutes. The margin never got closer than seven the remainder of the game.

Game Notes

Marquette leads the all-time series, 11-4...Kadeem Batts had 11 rebounds for the Friars, who also got 11 points and seven assists from Council...Providence shot 36.5 percent for the game, compared to 53.7 for Marquette.