Savannah State 51 - 69 Marquette
Final
  for this game

Marquette pulls away in second half, defeats Savannah St.

Dec 30, 2006 - 10:49 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Dominic James had a quiet first half but dominated in the second to propel Marquette to victory.

James and Wesley Matthews each scored 22 points to lead 22nd-ranked Marquette to a 69-51 triumph over Savannah State.

After a tightly contested first half, the Golden Eagles (13-2) pulled away from a 32-31 halftime lead with a 19-6 spurt to start the final 20 minutes. Ousmane Barro's layup with 10:12 remaining capped the burst, making it 51-37.

James, who was just 1-of-3 from the field in the first half, scored eight points during the run. He finished with 15 points in the second half.

"We started getting the ball reversed a lot more in the second half early on clogging paint," James said. "The ball ended up in my hands a lot, I was just trying to penetrate for my teammates and for myself."

Matthews scored 12 of his career-high point total in the first half for Marquette, which shot 50 percent (21-of-42) for the contest.

"We had a great week of hard practice," Matthews said. "We didn't show it in the first half, but we did in the second."

Joseph Flegler scored 15 points for the Tigers (6-12), who shot 34 percent (21-of-62), including 4-of-19 (21 percent) from behind the arc.

Savannah State has lost 12 of its last 13 contests. Its only win during that stretch was against Bethune-Cookman on December 22.






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