New York City, N.Y- Marquette University took a spirited contest against a gamed DePaul team in the opening round of the Big East Tournament. The Golden Eagles were led with 25 from Senior Guard Andrew Rowsey while Center Marin Maric scored 22 for Depaul. Marquette led by 14 in the second half before DePaul made a run to get close.
Max Strus missed a 3 pointer that would have given them the lead over Marquette with 4 seconds left. It rattled off the rim and Rowsey got the rebound and calmly sank free throws to put Marquette up by 3. A last second heave was no good and its on to the Big East Quarterfinals.
After the game, Coach Steve Wojciechowski spoke about his team’s response to DePaul. “It’s a great win for our team and our program,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “Really proud of our guys. We fought through a lot of adversity. Our guys showed great toughness. Obviously there’s a lot of game pressure on us.”
For DePaul, Strus and Maric did the heavy lifting, as they combined to score 44 of the teams 69 total points. DePaul took control in the second half, with Strus scoring 19 points in that frame and Marin getting to the free throw line. There efforts would fall short though, ending their up and down season. After the game, Coach Leitao praised Marin Maric and what he will take with him into next season.
“I talked about this a lot. And one of the joys of being around this group is for people like Marin. Marin, what you see as a basketball player pales in comparison; he’s an intellectual. He’s a man who you can have conversations with about anything. And he’s understanding. And I think that’s a great quality, and I think that’s what our school produces. And so part of the results, I always go back to the base. And the base has been in the locker room with guys like Marin and the rest of the guys that we have.”
DePaul will have to continue to build going forward with their program. For Marquette, they only have a few hours to get ready for a very gamed Villanova team.