Nigel James Jr. scored a career-high 38 points along with eight assists to lead Marquette to a thrilling 105-104 overtime victory against visiting Providence on Monday in Milwaukee.
It’s just the third time all season that Marquette (7-13, 2-7 Big East) had five players score in double figures. Royce Parham (18), Chase Ross (16), Ben Gold (14) and Damarius Owens (12) all contributed.
Jaylin Sellers and Stefan Vaaks led Providence (9-10, 2-6 Big East) with 27 and 26 points, respectively, marking a career high for Vaaks. The Friars were still without Jason Edwards (foot), who had been the leading scorer in Big East conference play prior to his injury.
After James’ three-point play capped a 7-0 run and put Marquette ahead 86-84, Providence followed with a 6-0 run of its own. The Friars owned a 94-91 lead with just 18 seconds to play.
Then the Golden Eagles got it up the floor off Owens’ steal and James was fouled on a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining. The freshman knocked down all three from the line, including the last after a Providence timeout.
Overtime was a back-and-forth affair until Providence made its fatal mistake: fouling Gold with four seconds left after he stole the ball. Gold made the first free throw to give Marquette the lead and missed the second, but the Golden Eagles got the final stop they needed.
The Golden Eagles shot 60.6% from the field in the first half, though just 5-for-13 from deep, but they were able to take a 54-44 lead into the break on 3-pointers by Adrien Stevens and Owens in the final minute.
Marquette committed just one turnover in the half and forced 10 Providence turnovers on defense that led to 16 points.
Then familiar second-half struggles came for Marquette as Providence stormed back. The Friars went from trailing by 10 to leading by five with 4:33 to play thanks to lights-out shooting from deep. Vaaks made five of Providence’s six triples in the second half.
Marquette snapped its three-game losing skid and won its fifth consecutive matchup against Providence.
–Field Level Media
