Lions out of NIT

By KEVIN GORMAN
Collegian Sports Writer

NEW YORK -- Time ran out on the NIT's version of the comeback kids.

Trailing by 14 points with 2 minutes, 23 seconds remaining, the men's basketball team staged its fourth-consecutive dramatic comeback in the National Invitation Tournament here at Madison Square Garden last night.

Miami (Fla.), Nebraska and Iowa had fallen victim to the Lions' last-minute fury in the tournament's first three rounds.

Marquette did not.

Behind the guard tandem of Anthony Pieper and Aaron Hutchins, the Golden Eagles (21-11) defeated the Lions (20-11) 87-79, in the NIT semifinals.

"(Penn State is) great in the end of the game at coming back and utilizing the clock," Marquette coach Mike Deane said. "And (they) almost got themselves back into this one."

Trailing 75-61 after Faisal Abraham's two-handed dunk, the Lions quickly clawed back into the game with an 18-7 run.

Behind a pair of three-pointers and ten free throws, including an Earl three-point play with 41 seconds remaining, a seemingly insurmountable deficit diminished.

Earl, who scored a career and team high 26 points, closed the gap to 82-79 with 33.8 seconds left.

The Lions were forced to foul to stop the clock, and had difficulty chasing the quicker Marquette backcourt, particularly Hutchins, a 5-foot-9 freshman guard who scored 17 points.

When the Lions finally fouled, the Golden Eagles responded by sinking seven free throws to extend their lead. And end the Lions' chances.

"We thought this would be a game that would go right down to the end," Lion coach Bruce Parkhill said. "When we were up double figures in the first half, we all knew that they were going to make a run."

Behind a flurry of three-point field goals and then a 20-5 run from the 12:43 mark, the Lions jumped to a 16-point first-half lead, 36-20.

Earl scored 14 first-half points on four three-pointers. The Lions led 61-50 when Earl's outside touch sparked the run.

But Marquette outscored the Lions 26-4 from 2:14 of the first half on Hutchins' 10-foot jumper until the 13:08 mark in the second. Pieper's three pointer gave the Golden Eagles a 46-40 advantage. A 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, he scored 12 first-half points on four threes.

Piepers' three pointer with 5.6 seconds, clinched an 8-0 Marquette run at the end of the first half to make it 36-28 at halftime. He finished with a game high of 31 points on seven for nine shooting from three-point range and 8 of 12 from the free throw line. His three early in the second half cut the lead to six, 37-31. Then a tip in at 16:37 made it 37-35. From that point Marquette outscored the Lions 38-24 until the 2:23 mark, when the Lions began their run. But their luck and the clock ran out.

-- Note:

Marquette will play Virginia Tech (24-10), a 79-51 winner over Canisius, (21-13), in the NIT championship. The Lions will play Canisius in the consolation game at 6 p.m. tomorrow. The championship will follow and will be on ESPN.