Golden Eagles dig out of big hole, sink Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- No. 10 Marquette (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 10 AP) took a huge step toward its first Conference USA title on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Louisville (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP) can't seem to stop its late-season

slide.

Dwyane Wade scored 28 points and Scott Merritt added 18 as the

Golden Eagles came from 19 points down to beat the Cardinals 78-73.

Travis Diener added 16 points and four assists for Marquette

(21-4, 12-2 Conference USA), which won for the 14th time in 15

games. The Golden Eagles have a game-and-a-half lead over Memphis

in the overall league standings with two home games left.

"We played with great heart, great resiliency," Marquette

coach Tom Crean said. "This is a complete team effort."

Wade hit a free throw with 23.4 seconds left and Louisville's

Reece Gaines, after faking a defender to get himself open, missed a

3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining that could have tied the game.

Diener hit two free throws with 6 seconds left to clinch the

win.

"We never gave up. We always felt like we were going to win,"

Diener said.

Wade also led the Golden Eagles with seven assists and had eight

rebounds, outduelling Gaines, his main competition in the race for

the league's player of the year.

Gaines, the hero of Louisville's 73-70 win at Marquette on Feb.

15, scored only 12 on 4-of-11 shooting for the Cardinals (19-5, 9-4

Conference USA), who lost for the fourth time in five games after a

17-game winning streak.

"If Dwyane Wade didn't put an exclamation point on what type of

player he is, I don't know what will," Crean said. "He defended,

rebounded and scored. He really got a lot of things done."

Freshman Francisco Garcia scored 24 for Louisville and Ellis

Myles had 12 points and 11 rebounds before he left the game with a

knee injury with 1:15 left.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino did not immediately know Myles'

status, but feared he was gone for the season. Myles is

Louisville's leading rebounder, with 7.7 per game.

"It was a big blow for the team to see him go down," Gaines

said.

The Cardinals led 42-23 in the first half and by 11 at halftime

before the Eagles came roaring back.

Louisville led 57-45 after a fast-paced first three minutes of

the second half.

But the Eagles went on an 18-4 run over the next four minutes,

holding the Cardinals to a single field goal. Merritt gave

Marquette its first lead with a basket in the lane with 10 minutes

left.

"We threw away the stat sheet at halftime," Crean said. "We

wanted to start all over again."

Myles kept the Cardinals close with three rebound putbacks. But

Wade had eight points in a five-minute span to put the Eagles up

74-70.

"It was a big-time game. I tried to step up to the challenge,"

Wade said.

Garcia scored on a drive -- just his third basket of the second

half -- to keep Louisville within two.

Merritt sank a free throw with 2:29 left, and the teams each

failed to score before Myles' injury. He screamed in pain and

pounded the floor after falling awkwardly. He left the game on a

stretcher.

Luke Whitehead hit a free throw and Steve Novak missed a

3-pointer with 40 seconds left, but Louisville freshman Taquan Dean

missed one 15 seconds later.

Early on, the Cardinals' defense smothered Marquette, forcing

six turnovers in the first eight minutes.

The Golden Eagles stayed within seven until Gaines' two free

throws with 8:17 left made it 23-14 and started a 7-0 Louisville

run.

The lead reached 42-23 as the Cardinals' swarming pressure

continued to generate Marquette miscues and easy baskets.

Louisville scored 16 points off 14 Marquette turnovers in the first

half.

"We got a little impatient, a little erratic in the first

half," Wade said.

The Eagles turned up their defense to finish the half with a

12-2 burst. The Cardinals missed five of their last six first-half

shots and led only 46-35 at the break.

Marquette had only four turnovers in the second half and only

one in the final 11 minutes.

"We played a lot of great basketball tonight," Crean said.