Gonzaga Bulldogs sneak past Marquette Golden Eagles
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were able to narrowly avoid their third straight loss with a tight 66-63 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles on Tuesday 23 November in the third-place game of the CBE Classic.
Gonzaga has struggled in their last two match-ups, first losing to the San Diego State Aztecs and then to the Kansas State Wildcats in the CBE Classic semi-finals. The Bulldogs recent poor performance has caused them to drop in the rankings, and they needed
to get a win over the Golden Eagles to stay competitive.
The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 4-2, after losing to the Duke Blue Devils in the CBE Classic semi-finals. Marquette was not expected to make a splash in the Big East this season, but after their strong play early in the season they could be a factor
in one of the nation’s most difficult conferences.
The Bulldogs had a strong first half and were able to take a 42-33 lead into the break. However, in the second stanza the Golden Eagles began to battle back, tying the Bulldogs on several occasions and actually out scoring them, 30-24 in the half. However,
the first half deficit was too much for Marquette to overcome, losing by three in a heart-breaker.
Gonzaga was able to hold Marquette’s shooting to 41 per cent, which the club credits to their decision to go back to zone defence.
“We’ve always played a lot of zone especially early in our seasons and sometimes late in our seasons,” Gonzaga head coach, Mark Few, told
The Associated Press.
“I’ve been kicking myself on getting away from it a little bit. Today, I was telling myself that I had to have more of a conviction to stay in it a little bit. We strung some stops together. Our guys were more comfortable in it. We talked in timeouts and
they wanted to stay in our 2-3.”
The Bulldogs were helped out by another terrific performance from Steven Gray, who registered 20 points, six rebounds and two assists. Adding to the total was forward Elias Harris, who was strong up front, picking up 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles got another strong outing from guard Jimmy Butler, who accrued 22 points, and six rebounds. Butler was helped out by Darius Johnson-Odom, who tallied 13 points and four rebounds.
The Bulldogs will next face-off against the Eastern Washington Eagles, while Marquette will see the Milwaukee Panthers.
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