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Marquette steamrolls Rutgers for eighth straight win

Feb 8, 2007 - 4:48 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The beginning of conference play seems like a long time ago for Marquette.

Ousmane Barro scored 11 points to lead five players in double figures as the 12th-ranked Golden Eagles topped Rutgers, 67-47, for their eighth consecutive Big East Conference victory.

After opening league play with losses to Providence and Syracuse, Marquette (21-4, 8-2) has been perfect in conference play and has not tasted defeated since January 7.

"This was the ideal game tonight," said Golden Eagles assistant coach Bennie Seltzer, subbing for an under-the-weather coach Tom Crean. "It was a total team effort and it was very businesslike."

It was the fourth time an opponent was held under 50 points by Marquette, which dominated the backboards, 40-28.

"Defending and rebounding are two main keys we stress every day in practice, and our guys are doing a good job of executing that," Seltzer said.

Starting guards Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal scored 10 points apiece as did Dan Fitzgerald and David Cubillan for the Golden Eagles.

"We know that it is necessary to outrebound teams because it really kills a team's morale, especially when the team is on defense for a while," Matthews said. "We had to get the second chance at points and that is what we were doing tonight."

Marquette went on a 12-2 run that featured 3-pointers by Lazar Hayward and McNeal to forge a 29-18 lead with 4:30 left in the opening half.

Trailing, 32-23, at halftime, Rutgers (9-15, 2-9) got within 40-34 on JR Inman's 3-pointer with 14:38 remaining.

The Golden Eagles answered with a 10-2 spurt capped off by 3-pointers from Cubillan and Fitzgerald to build the cushion to 50-36 with 9 1/2 minutes left and coasted from there.

"This team has grown so much since the beginning of the season and now we are able to do so many other things," McNeal said. "We have been taking it one game at a time and really focusing on each opponent and what they want to do when we play."

Marquis Webb scored 12 points and Inman had 11 for the Scarlet Knights, who dropped their third straight contest and lost for the eighth time in nine games.

Two things that you want to try and do is slow them down in transition and rebound on the defensive end," Rutgers coach Fred Hill said. "They got us in transition and got us on the offensive glass a little bit. The tempo was to our liking, but we didn't score like we wanted."