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Jan. 14, 2003

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Waitari Marsh scored a career-high 30 points but it was not enough to overcome preseason All-American Dwyane Wade and the No. 21-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles on Tuesday evening at Fogelman Arena.

Wade scored 35 points on an unstoppable array of inside, mid-range and outside shots to lead the Golden Eagles to an 85-73 Conference USA victory.

"I can't say enough about Dwyane Wade," Tulane head coach Shawn Finney said. "He was phenomenal. He showed why he's an All-American tonight. We tried denying him, we tried everything. He made the shots. He took over the game at the start of the second half."

Wade converted alley-oop dunks, 3-pointers, fast-break layups and even finessed outside shots off the glass in an offensive display that halted Tulane (7-8, 0-2 Conference USA) every time the Green Wave made a run to get close.

"I was in foul trouble in the first half," said Marsh, who had just three first-half points. "In the second half, I just wanted to go down swinging, but you punch that dude [Wade] and he just comes right back."

Travis Diener hit two 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 16 points for Marquette (11-3, 3-1), which has won three straight, while Robert Jackson added 13, mostly by muscling his way inside. Marquette shot just over 59 percent from the field and outrebounded Tulane 36-28.

Tulane was within one basket with about seven minutes left but never pulled even.

Brandon Brown scored 16 points and Wayne Tinsley had 10 for Tulane, which shot just under 44 percent.

Marsh scored seven straight points to pull Tulane within 54-49 with 12:05 left. He later finished a fast break as Tulane got as close as 61-59.

"Wat played the way he is capable of," Finney said of Marsh's career-best performance. "We need him to continue to play that way, and we need our other guys to get on the same page with him."

But Marquette responded with two strong inside baskets by Jackson and Wade's end-to-end basket after he grabbed a loose ball and dribbled past two defenders that made it 67-58 with 5:30 left.

"We had open shots all night," Finney said. "We've got to jump up and make them. Their zone was a big factor. We had looks, we just didn't make them. You've got to make shots to win these games."

Wade, who had 14 points in the first half, ignited a 10-2 run late in the half by hitting a jump-hook in the post and taking a steal hard to the right elbow before pulling up for a jumper off the glass.

Senior Brandon Spann converted on a drive just before the halftime buzzer to pull Tulane within 37-30.