Freshman Nigel James Jr. made four free throws in the final minute of overtime to lift Marquette to a 75-72 victory over Valparaiso in a non-conference game Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
Two foul shots from James allowed the Golden Eagles to lead 73-72 with 33 seconds remaining. Mark Brown Jr. missed a contested jumper from the free throw line on Valparaiso’s next possession, and James made two more foul shots to make it 75-72 with 16.5 seconds left.
Brown missed a long 3-point attempt in the final seconds.
Owen Dease made a 3-pointer to put the Beacons ahead 70-69 with 2:01 left in overtime, but Chase Ross answered with two free throws to give Marquette a 71-70 lead with 1:21 left.
James scored a career-high 21 points, Ben Gold 17 and Ross 16 for Marquette (5-4), which scored eight of its 10 points in overtime from the free throw line.
Dease had 17 points, JT Pettigrew added 16 and Rakim Chaney added 13 for Valparaiso (5-3).
The Beacons converted an offensive rebound into a 3-pointer by Chaney for a 65-59 lead with 3:40 left, but they failed to score the rest of regulation.
Gold scored underneath to bring Marquette back into a tie at 65 with 55 seconds left.
Marquette played for one last shot in regulation, but Ross turned the ball over with two seconds left.
Chaney capped an 8-2 run with a deep 3-pointer to put the Beacons ahead 48-42 with 12:03 left in the second half.
Valparaiso took advantage of Marquette’s offensive struggles to take a 27-23 halftime lead.
The Golden Eagles missed 14 straight shots before Ross scored on a breakaway to give Marquette a 16-15 lead.
Dease and Chaney made back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Beacons a 25-19 lead late in the half.
Marquette shot 29% before halftime and was just 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles stayed close with 12 fast break points and scored 11 points off 13 turnovers.
Overall on the night, the Beacons outshot the Golden Eagles 45.2% to 35%, but Marquette had a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
–Field level media
