(MARQUETTE COMMUNICATIONS) – Marquette Golden Eagles lost to the Purdue Boilermakers 78-75 in the Maui Invitational championship in Maui, Hawaii on Wednesday.
Guard Tyler Kolek scored 22 points and also chipped in seven rebounds and six assists and guard Kam Jones added 17 points.
Marquette trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half and closed the gap as close as one point, but Purdue was able to answer in the closing seconds. Jones 3-pointer at the buzzer wasn’t able to find the bottom of the net an the Boilermakers were able to escape with the 3-point win.
Marquette trailed 45-33 at the intermission at Purdue sank a 3-pointer from beyond halfcourt at the buzzer. The Golden Eagles battled foul trouble the entire half, with Ben Gold picking up three and a trio of other players finished the first 20 minutes with two personals. Kolek led the way offensively with 13 points and while MU shot 48.1 percent from the floor overall, it was just 1-of-7 from distance.
Notables:
- Marquette was making its second appearance in the event’s title game. MU fell, 77-73, to Duke in 2007
- The Golden Eagles played back-to-back top-5 opponents for the first time since the 2003 NCAA tournament (No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 1 Kentucky)
- Marquette is the first team to play Associated Press No. 1 and 2 in back-to-back games since Loyola Chicago in 1972, which lost to UCLA (1) and Marquette (2)
- Marquette: 11th team in AP Poll history to face AP No. 1 and No. 2 on consecutive days (either order); only 1962-63 Loyola Chicago won both, in Final Four and National Championship Game
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