No. 17 Marquette 60, Rutgers 54: Vander Blue scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half to rally the visiting Golden Eagles from a 12-point deficit.
Blue capped his performance by burying a pair of decisive free throws with 13.9 seconds to go as Marquette (22-7, 13-4 Big East) kept its regular-season title hopes alive in the Big East.
Jamil Wilson scored all 10 of his points in the second half and Junior Cadougan also had 10 points as the Golden Eagles beat Rutgers (13-15, 4-13) for the seventh straight time and handed the Scarlet Knights their fifth straight defeat.
Myles Mack scored 11 points and Jerome Seagears added 10 for Rutgers, which led by 10 points at halftime and 35-23 early in the second half before wilting and tumbling to its 11th loss in 12 games.
Blue buried a 3-pointer to knot it at 52 before Wilson hit from behind the arc to give Marquette its first lead since 2-0 and put the Golden Eagles ahead to stay.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Marquette, which has already clinched a double bye in the Big East tournament, trails Big East leader Georgetown by a half-game. The Golden Eagles wrap up the regular season Saturday at St. John's. ... The Scarlet Knights were 4-of-9 from the free-throw line in falling to 1-12 against Top 25 teams. ... Blue broke out of a scoring slump that had seen him score only 19 points in the previous three games.
Marquette | Rutgers | |
Vander Blue 22 | Scoring | Myles Mack 11 |
Vander Blue 3 | Assists | Myles Mack 4 |
Trent Lockett 5 | Rebounds | Mike Poole 6 |
Vander Blue 5 | Free Throws Made | Kadeem Jack 2 |
Davante Gardner 2 | Steals | Malick Kone 1 |
Jamil Wilson 1 | Blocks | Derrick Randall 3 |