Dec. 20, 2000

Box Score

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Cordell Henry scored 21 points and Brian Wardle added 18 to lead Marquette to a 78-66 victory over Western Carolina Wednesday night.

Odartey Blankson added 12 points and Scott Merritt had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.

Cory Largent led Western Carolina with 21 points.

The Catamounts (2-9) played without their leading scorer Corey Wells, who was dismissed for disciplinary reasons.

The Golden Eagles (5-3) play their intrastate rival, 16th-ranked Wisconsin (7-1) in Milwaukee Saturday.

Henry scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half Wednesday night to help the Golden Eagles build their lead to double figures. Western Carolina closed to seven, at 69-62, with 3:13 left.

But Brian Barone sank a 3-pointer to put Marquette back up 72-62. Wardle made a pair of free throws with 45.9 seconds left to put the Golden Eagles up 74-64. Marquette finished out scoring from the free throw line.

The Golden Eagles jumped off to a 9-0 lead and were ahead 18-8 at the 11-minute mark of the first half. Western Carolina had made only 3 of 11 shots (27.3 percent) to that point.

But the Catamounts closed to 25-21 after guard Casey Rogers sank two straight 3-pointers. Marquette rebuilt the lead to 35-26 and took a 35-28 lead into halftime.