The Marquette Golden Eagles survived the opening weekend of March Madness, returning to the Sweet 16 for the first time in over a decade. After pulling away in the second half to beat 15th seeded Western Kentucky 87-69 in their opener on Friday, the second seeded Golden Eagles held off a feisty Colorado Buffalo squad Sunday in Indianapolis 81-77. Marquette built a 45-34 lead at the half but the Buffaloes started knocking down 3’s to make it a tight game to the finish. David Joplin’s two free throws with 7.4 left provided the final margin. He finished with 14 points, Kameron Jones put up 18 with 16 coming in the first half before he ran into foul trouble. Senior Tyler Kolek ran the show however with 21 points and 11 assists as Marquette improves to 27-9 on the year. They’ll advance to the South Regional Semifinals in Dallas on Friday night to take on the 11th seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack, the lowest remaining seed in the tournament. NC State is red hot after winning 4 straight to capture the ACC tournament title before upsetting Texas Tech in their opener and then beating Oakland of the Horizon League in round two.
Comments