Washington , DC-

With a lot on the line today for the Hoyas the had to come alive early and often if they wanted to beat the powerful 10th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles, they did that pound for pound in the first half, the second half the Hoyas just did not have enough left to control the three big scorers for Marquette and dropped another Big East game, 78-72.

Wesley Matthews led the way for Marquette scoring 23 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, Jerel McNeal added 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds while playing all 40 minutes, and Lazar Hayward had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Eagles, who committed only six turnovers and shot 48 percent from the field.

"We played as tough as we could today. There was no lack of effort on behalf of these guys today, said Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson III. " We can't dwell on this one too long, we have to get ready for Monday night.

The Hoyas had a balanced scoring effort from their starters led by Chris Wright's 17 points. DaJuan Summers helped the balanced effort 12 points, but fouled out of the game when they needed a deep threat late in the game.

Most of the story on the final minutes of today's game was the Hoyas inablity to score in over a two minute period. The game remained deadlocked at 71-67 until 54 seconds remaining in the game when Jimmy Butler hit a lay-up giving Marquette all they would need to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Hoyas Notes:

During halftime of today's game the Hoyas honored the players from the 1984 National Championship team. Most of the players were on hand, notable missing players were Head Coach John Thompson and Center Patrick Ewing, who gave a recorded speech from Orlando.