MILWAUKEE – Marquette used a key 10-2 run over a four-minute stretch of the second half to take control and hold off a pesky North Dakota squad 67-54 Monday at the Bradley Center. The Golden Eagles (7-4) struggled early from the floor, but found their groove late against UND (4-7), who led for a majority of the opening 30 minutes of the contest. 

Junior Estan Tyler hit a season-high six 3-pointers and led UND with 18 points. His fifth trey put the visitors up 39-38 at the 12-minute mark of the second half, but that is when the Golden Eagles answered with their decisive run sparked by reserve Jujuan Johnson, who finished with 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half.

Sophomore Quinton Hooker added 12 points for UND and a career-high seven rebounds, while senior Jaron Nash chipped in with 11, including two alley-oop conversions and led UND with eight boards.

“I am very proud of our effort. That is what we want to hang our hats on: competing and playing with energy for 40 minutes,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “Of all the top-tier programs we have played, I felt like tonight we put together a full 40-minute game; not only competing, but following the game plan. I thought our guys did a tremendous job with that tonight.”

Marquette started the game making just nine of its first 36 field goals, but Johnson and company made 16 of 23 down the stretch to close out the game. Derrick Wilson finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the home team as these two squads played for the first time since 1963.

UND led early at 7-3 thanks to a corner 3-pointer by Tyler, but neither team got off to a good start from the floor. UND began the game 5-for-13 from the field, while MU started 3-for-13 in the opening nine minutes. That left the visitors with an 11-8 advantage.

Tyler would give UND its largest lead on another corner 3-pointer at 20-12 with just over six minutes to play in the half, but Marquette reeled off an 11-1 run to retake the lead for the first time since the opening two minutes of the contest.

That advantage would be short-lived though as the Golden Eagles made only added a free throw in the closing stretch, while Terrel de Rouen and Tyler struck from 3-point territory for the visitors to give them a 29-24 lead at halftime.

UND would shoot better after its cold start, finishing the half 11-for-25 from the floor and 4-for-10 from beyond the arc. The visitors would cool off again in the second half, however, going just 10-for-28 after the break.

Senior guard Matt Carlino, who is Marquette's leading scorer, got the Golden Eagles on the board in the second half with his first points of the game with a 3-point play, but UND would stay in it for the opening eight minutes of the second half.

Tyler put UND up 36-32, but MU scored six straight to regain lead. UND's sharp-shooter would give his squad one final lead, but the Golden Eagles would take over from there. He finished 6-for-9 from deep for the game, while the rest of the team went 1-for-11.

The Golden Eagles owned a 46-28 advantage on the glass and turned 17 offensive boards into 13 second-chance points. Juan Anderson led all players with 13 rebounds and added eight points.

UND will open Big Sky play after a nine-day break from action on New Year's Day at Montana State.

-- UND --