• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

No. 10 Marquette sends Rutgers to another loss

Feb 23, 2012 - 4:35 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Jae Crowder scored 27 points, Darius Johnson- Odom had 21 and No. 10 Marquette handed Rutgers its sixth straight loss on Wednesday night, 82-65.

Vander Blue added 10 points for the Golden Eagles (23-5, 12-3 Big East), who have won four straight and 11 of their last 12.

Jerome Seagears had 14 points to lead the Scarlet Knights (12-16, 4-11) while Gilvydas Biruta scored 12 and Eli Carter 11.

Marquette had a 21-6 lead after five-plus minutes, with Crowder knocking down two three-pointers and completing a three-point play during a personal 9-0 run for the team.

"Whatever it takes for us to win games, we're trying to do," said Crowder.

But the Scarlet Knights bounced back, at least for a while, responding with a 12-4 burst to cut the deficit to seven on Seagears' jumper. Later, they were within four points twice.

But Marquette, sparked by Crowder and Johnson-Odom, scored 11 of the last 15 points in the first half to carry a 46-35 lead into the break. The Eagles shot 55.2 percent and Johnson-Odom scored 19 of his 21 points in the half.

Crowder had 14 points in the second half, including six in a 10-2 spurt that pushed a six-point Marquette lead to 14 with under 10 minutes to play. Rutgers was never closer than 13 the rest of the way and Marquette's lead grew as high as 18.

The Eagles scored 30 fastbreak points, including 18 in the second half.

"That's a new one for us," said Rutgers coach Mike Rice. "I thought [Johnson- Odom] and Crowder were tremendous. The whole team was tremendous on the break. If you can't stop somebody from putting their head down and scoring layups, you're not going to be successful. We certainly weren't tonight."

Game Notes

The Eagles shot 53.6 percent for the game. They have three games left in the regular season: at West Virginia and Cincinnati and versus Georgetown. They are trying to earn one of the four double byes into the quarterfinals of the Big East Championship and have already clinched a spot in the second round.