A suffocating second-half defense paved the way for the Marquette Golden Eagles to score a 72-61 victory over the Bucknell Bison in opening-round action of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Sunday at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

After trailing by as many as 13 points, 48-35, with 17:05 to go in the second half, Marquette (2-0) chipped away at the Bison lead and whittled it down to 50-43 at the 14:40 mark. Bucknell then got two free throws from Joe Willman to build its lead to 57-45 with 10:22 to play, but the Golden Eagles rattled off 23 unanswered points and quickly put the game out of reach for the Bison.

Marquette’s starters accounted for only 25 points. Dwight Buycks came off the bench to score 17 points for the Golden Eagles, and Jae Crowder notched a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes of action.

Bryson Johnson led Bucknell (0-2) with 18 points, while Willman and G.W. Boon each chipped in 11 points.