Stevie Mitchell led a balanced attack with 17 points and No. 15 Marquette held off visiting Central Michigan 70-62 on Monday night in Milwaukee.
Marquette (3-0) rattled off a 21-0 run in the first half to take a sizable lead, but Central Michigan (1-2) drew 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 compiled 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 fouling out to lead Central Michigan. Jakobi Heady and Ugnius Jarusevicius each added 11 points, with Jarusevicius adding a career-high 14 rebounds.
Damarion Bonds hit a 3-pointer for Central Michigan to tie the game at 15 before Marquette went on its dominating run.
Jones made a 3-pointer following Anthony Pritchard’s turnover, the first of six Chippewa giveaways during the sequence. Jones hit a second 3-pointer after Heady’s fumble, and on the next Central Michigan possession, Jones made the steal and fed Mitchell for a triple to make it 34-15.
Jones’ layup 22 seconds later capped the run and made it a 21-point game at the 7:11 mark of the first half.
The Marquette offense and defense wound down for the rest of the half and maintained a 42-27 halftime lead.
The Golden Eagles’ dominance continued early in the second half. They passed the ball around the outside to Gold, who canned a corner 3-pointer with 14:19 to go that put his team ahead 53-38.
But four players scored in an ensuing 10-0 Central Michigan run to cut that lead to five points. Marquette struggled to grow that lead larger than 10 as the Chippewas consistently provided an answer. Heady converted a three-point play to cut the margin to 60-54 with 5:13 to go.
Gold converted another triple at the 3:30 mark to make it 65-56, and the Golden Eagles ran out the clock from there.
–Field Level Media
