No. 15 Marquette withstands Central Michigan’s rally and storms to victory

Stevie Mitchell led a balanced attack with 17 points and No. 15 Marquette held off Central Michigan 70-62 on Monday night in Milwaukee.

Marquette (3-0) went on a 21-0 run in the first half to take a commanding lead, but Central Michigan (1-2) got within five points in the second half before the Golden Eagles pulled away. Marquette forced 26 Chippewa turnovers and turned them into 33 points.

Kam Jones collected 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals for the Golden Eagles. Chase Ross added 12 points, six rebounds and four steals and Ben Gold scored 10 points.

Kyler Vanderjagt scored a game-high 19 points before his foul to lead Central Michigan. Jakobi Heady and Ugnius Jarusevicius each added 11 points, with Jarusevicius grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds.

Damarion Bonds hit a 3-pointer for Central Michigan, tying the game at 15 before Marquette began its dominant run.

Jones made a 3-pointer after Anthony Pritchard’s turnover, the first of six Chippewa giveaways during the sequence. After Heady’s fumble, Jones made a second 3-pointer, and on Central Michigan’s next possession, Jones made the steal and fed Mitchell for a three-pointer, making the score 34-15.

Jones’ layup 22 seconds later capped the run and made the score 21 with 7:11 left in the first half.

Marquette’s offense and defense slowed down for the remainder of the half, maintaining a 42-27 halftime lead.

The Golden Eagles’ dominance continued into the start of the second half. They passed the ball around the outside to Gold, who converted a corner 3-pointer with 14:19 left to give his team a 53-38 lead.

But four players scored in Central Michigan’s subsequent 10-0 run, cutting the lead to five points. Marquette struggled to extend that lead to more than 10 as the Chippewas consistently provided an answer. Heady converted a three-point play to cut the lead to 60-54 with 5:13 left.

At 3:30, Gold hit another three-pointer to make it 65-56, and from then on the Golden Eagles ran out of time.

–Field level media