Marquette 79, UMBC 46
A close game at the half turned into a rout as Marquette pulled away for a 79-46 win over UMBC on Monday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
After the Retrievers (1-4) took a 31-30 lead on Brett Roseboro's jumper with 16:52 remaining, the Golden Eagles (5-1) went on runs of 17-2 and 20-0 while proceeding to roll off 41 of the next 48 points to cruise to a comfortable victory.
Jamil Walker led three Golden Eagles players in double figures with 15 points. Davante Gardner added 13 and Jake Thomas 12 for the Golden Eagles, who shot 53.4 percent from the field (31-for-58).
The Golden Eagles held the Retrievers to 33.3 percent shooting (19-for-57), including an anemic 3-for-21 from behind the 3-point arc. Chase Plummer led the Retrievers with 12 points.
The teams played evenly through the first 10 minutes of the game before the Golden Eagles went on a 7-0 run to take a 19-13 lead.
However, Marquette then went more than seven minutes without a field goal, and the Retrievers tied the game at 20-20.
Wilson, who led the Golden Eagles with eight first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting, broke the drought with a jumper and added a layup following a Gardner dunk.
Brian Neller scored the Retrievers' final four points of the half to cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 28-24 at intermission.
UMBC returns home Thursday to play Canisius, while Marquette plays Florida the same night in Gainesville as part of the SEC/Big East Challenge.
