It wouldn’t be a Lafayette-Marquette basketball game without excitement, which this year’s version had plenty of. After being down early on and then up 57-44 in the fourth quarter, the Lancers held off a furious comeback by the Mustangs to win 78-73 in overtime.
With just five seconds left in regulation,Marquettecenter Ryan Rosburg scored on a put back to tie the game at 64-64. Even after being outscored 23-16 in the fourth quarter, the Lancers had a chance to win it when a long three pointer by senior Joel Pennington rimmed out as time expired.
Pennington redeemed himself, though, in overtime by hitting a three pointer to put the Lancers ahead for good. He and senior Nick Messer tied for a team-high 21 points.
The game started with a 9-2 Marquette run fueled by a ferocious breakaway dunk by Rosburg, who finished with a game-high 27 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out in overtime. But the 6’10 center shot just 7-14 from the free throw line and the Mustangs made just over half of their foul shots, compared 86.3 percent for the Lancers.
With the win, the Lancers improve to 8-4 overall and 2-0 in Conference play whileMarquettedrops to 8-4 and 0-1.
