National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 81, Marquette 56
When: 9:25 PM ET, Thursday, March 10, 2011
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Officials: # Jeff Clark, # John Gaffney, # Mike Roberts
Attendance: 19375

Mike Marra knocked down a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as No. 14 Louisville cruised past Marquette 81-56 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Preston Knowles added 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the third-seeded Cardinals (24-8), who will face Notre Dame on Friday in the semifinals.

Louisville led by five, 36-31, at the break and stretched it out early in the second half to 54-39 with 12:29 left after Marra knocked down three straight 3-pointers, and Knowles added another.

The Golden Eagles would not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the Cardinals put together a 25-8 run over an eight-minute span, capped by Knowles 3-pointer with 2:10 left that made it 79-52 and allowed Rick Pitino to empty his bench.

Jimmy Butler collected 14 points and seven rebounds for No. 11 seed Marquette (20-14), which likely locked up its at-large bid to the NCAA tournament by winning in the first two rounds.
Top Game Performances
 
Marquette   Louisville
Jimmy Butler 14 Scoring Mike Marra 22
Jimmy Butler 2 Assists Peyton Siva 9
Jamail Jones 7 Rebounds Chris Smith 11
Jimmy Butler 7 Free Throws Made Terrence Jennings 2
Jimmy Butler 2 Steals Chris Smith 3
Chris Otule 2 Blocks Terrence Jennings 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Marquette 56 29.8 3-15 19-30 7 36 3 6
Louisville 81 46.9 13-31 8-12 24 43 7 7