Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbooks) - Dominic James scored his 1,000th career point, part of a 13-point performance, as the 10th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles downed the Utah Valley State Wolverines, 66-55.
James, the preseason All-America junior guard, reached the milestone in just his 66th career game.
Dwight Burke had 12 points and eight rebounds, while David Cubillan also scored 12 for the Golden Eagles (2-0). Lazar Hayward tallied 11 points for Marquette, which trailed 34-32 at the half before rallying over the final 20 minutes. Jerel McNeal added seven points, nine rebounds for Marquette.
The Wolverines were led by Ryan Toolson's 20-point output. Richard Troyer contributed 12 points and six rebounds for the Wolverines (0-2). UVU relied mostly on three-point shooting to keep up with Marquette, going 10-for-22 from beyond the arc.
Marquette came out of the locker room in the second half on a 6-0 run to take a 38-34 lead. Wesley Matthews capped the burst with a jumper.
Troyer responded with a three-pointer, but with 16:13 to play, James was fouled by Josh Olsen, and proceeded to the charity stripe, where he netted his 1,000th career point and kept Marquette ahead, 39-37. He became the 38th Golden Eagle all-time and first since Steve Novak in 2005-06 to reach the milestone.
A Troyer three had UVU within 50-47 with 7:10 remaining, but the Wolverines wasted a chance to get closer as Jabir Jinna turned the ball over immediately after making a steal. Matthews then drilled a jumper for a 52-47 lead.
The Wolverines were within four at 54-50 after a jumper by Jinna with 5:26 left, but James came right back by sinking a three-pointer. Marquette sealed the victory when Cubillan nailed a three with 2:07 remaining, moving the margin to 64-53.
Game Notes
There were six lead changes in first 7:30 of play...James is the seventh player (Travis Diener, Cordell Henry, Scott Merritt, Novak, Dwyane Wade and Brian Wardle) to achieve the 1,000-point benchmark during the Tom Crean era at MU...James has averaged 15 points per game while starting all of his 66 career games, reaching double figures in 53 of those matchups...MU answered UVU's 30 points from 3-point range with 36 points in the paint...Toolson and Troyer combined to go 9-for-16 from beyond the arc.
