Marquette defeats Ole Miss in Charleston Classic opener

For the first time in ten years, the Marquette Golden Eagles are 4-0 to open the season.

Marquette improved to 4-0 on the year with a 78-72 win over the Ole Miss Rebels in the opening round of the Charleston Classic Thursday evening.

Just as was the case in Marquette’s three previous wins, Darryl Morsell was the leading scorer for the Golden Eagles with 22 points. Morsell is averaging 22.5 points per game, which is second-highest in the Big East behind St. John’s Julian Champagnie (24.7).

The Golden Eagles had to play from behind almost all evening, as Ole Miss scored the first eight points and it seemed as though they would run away with it. Six minutes into the game, Marquette was down 17-5. Kam Jones came up big and scored eight of the team’s next nine points and the lead was trimmed to five. With five minutes to go in the half, the Ole Miss lead was back up to 10, but Morsell, Jones, and Justin Lewis led Marquette to a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three. It would end up a five-point game going into the half.

Lewis played a huge role in the second half for the Golden Eagles, scoring Marquette’s first 11 points of the second half, the last of which was a three-pointer that tied the game at 42. From there, Jones and Morsell scored the next 11, keeping the Golden Eagles in the game as they struggled to get stops on the other end against Ole Miss’ balanced scoring effort. Once Marquette finally got the lead, though, thanks to a David Joplin three, they never looked back.

Morsell, Lewis, and Jones accounted for 61 of Marquette’s 78 points. The Golden Eagles will be back in action Friday as they square off with Bob Huggins and the West Virginia Mountaineers.