MILWAUKEE – Marian University men’s basketball (11-7, 7-6 NACC) couldn’t hold off a late rally from WLC falling to the Warriors 73-67.
The Sabres got out to a hot start jumping ahead of WLC 12-2 in the first six minutes of the game. The Warriors were able to quickly bounce back going on a 14-6 run to cut their deficit down to two with just 8:54 left in the half. Marian would hold onto this slim lead until WLC scored 10 unanswered points in the final minutes eventually taking a 35-30 lead into the break.
Marian was able to immediately erase this deficit opening the second half by scoring the first 10 points to take a 40-35 advantage. The Sabres would build their lead out to as much as 11 leading 53-42 with 11:01 left in the game. After trailing 56-46, the Warriors were able to put together a 12-3 spurt to trail by just one at 59-58 with 5:34 left to play. Marian would off this surge but another 11-4 run from WLC gave the Warriors a 69-64 lead with just 40 seconds to play. The Sabres rallied to trail by just four with 16 seconds left but WLC was able to hold on to the victory at the free throw line.
Marian finished the game shooting 29-of-64 (.453) from the field and held WLC to just 22-of-61 (.361) shooting. The Sabres were also able to control action in the paint outscoring the Warriors 42-30.
Junior Tyler Gouin finished with 23 points and four assists, while sophomore Delvin Barnstable posted his first double-double as a Sabre scoring 15 points with 10 boards. Senior David Britton nearly had a double-double scoring 11 points with eight rebounds and five assists.
Marian returns home to host Edgewood Saturday, February 5 for a 4:15 p.m. tip.
