Markus Howard – File Photo / Courtesy of Marquette Athletics
The Marquette Golden Eagles were hoping to hang their hat on a strong defensive performance as the necessary formula for a road victory in Omaha, Nebraska on Wednesday night. Instead, junior guard Markus Howard was the key to the Golden Eagles first true road win of the season, a 106-104 overtime victory over the Creighton Blue Jays in Big East action.
After scoring 52 in a game against Providence, Howard dropped a career high 53 points on the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, connecting on 15 of his 26 field goal attempts, including 10 of 14 from three-point range.
The 53 points are the most scored by a Big East player in any game.
Howard wasn’t the only hero for the Golden Eagles though. Sam Hauser hit a game tying off-balance three at the buzzer to force the overtime.
Marquette (13-3, 2-1 Big East) is fortunate to have gotten this win. They trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and appeared to have the game under wraps in regulation. But after Marquette’s Joseph Chartouny hit a layup with one second left, cutting the Bluejays’ lead to 85-82, Creighton’s Connor Cashaw tried to throw a deep pass that went out-of-bounds without any players touching it.
The turnover gave the ball to Marquette with 0.8 seconds left. The inbound then went to Hauser for the game-tying three.
It gave Marquette its first true road victory of the season. They had been 0-2 with road losses to Indiana and St. Johns.
Creighton dropped to 10-6 with the loss, 1-2 in the Big East.