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Marquette (9-6, 1-1 Big East) came back from down 10 points early in the second half to comfortably defeat DePaul (8-7, 0-2 Big East) 66-56 at the Bradley Center Saturday. Davante Gardner posted a career-high 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. His 21 second half points were instrumental in bringing the Golden Eagles back from the brink of a defeat that would have sent their season into a tail spin.
A Gardner layup with 7:03 remaining gave Marquette its first lead of the game. After Charles McKinney returned fire to take the lead back for the Blue Demons, an impressive offensive rebound, layup and one from Jamil Wilson (who scored 14 points and had seven rebounds) gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good.
Cleveland Melvin led DePaul with 22 points, but faded down the stretch and became a non-factor late. Marquette shutout dynamic scorer Brandon Young, who still managed seven assists. Todd Mayo also hit double-figures in scoring for Marquette, with 10 points off the bench.