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INDIANAPOLIS – The Marquette men’s basketball team flirted with disaster Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The second-seeded Golden Eagles recovered from a disjointed first-half performance to beat 15th-seeded Western Kentucky, 87-69, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
MU (26-9) will play Colorado on Sunday.
Kam Jones scored 28 points and Tyler Kolek had 18 points and 11 assists in his first game since Feb. 28 for the Golden Eagles.
The first half was not ideal for MU.
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After a slow start, it looked like the Golden Eagles might pull away as they took a 28-19 lead.
But Western Kentucky’s Dontaie Allen hit a 3-pointer and the Hilltoppers managed to get back into the game. Milwaukee native Don McHenry hit a mid-range jumper to give Western Kentucky a 32-31 lead at the 4:29 mark.
Western Kentucky took a 43-33 lead after an 18-2 run.
SCOREBOARD: Marquette 87, Western Kentucky 69
MU got a runner from Ben Gold in the final seconds to trail, 43-36, at halftime.
The good news for the Golden Eagles was that Kolek looked good after missing six games with an oblique injury. He made his first 2 three-point attempts and scored 13 points in the first half while only being out a minute.
But MU was just 5 of 19 (26.3%) on 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, while allowing Western Kentucky to shoot 17 of 36 (47.2%) overall.
Stevie Mitchell changed the tone of the game for MU early in the second half. She made a layup on MU’s first possession.
A little more than two minutes later, he chased down McHenry and took the ball away from him for a steal. Mitchell then drove in a three-point play that brought MU within 48-46.
Mitchell blocked a shot on Western Kentucky’s next possession, leading to a David Joplin layup that tied the game.
Jones gave MU the lead with a spinning layup.
The Hilltoppers fought back and tied the game at 55-55 on a three-pointer by McHenry.
But MU’s Ben Gold responded with a 3-pointer. Kolek then converted a three-point play to give the Golden Eagles a 61-55 lead.
Jones heated up and hit consecutive 3-pointers to take a 69-61 lead.
Then it was Mitchell again, grabbing an offensive rebound while being fouled. He made the free throw to go up 72-63 with six minutes left.
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