Marquette holds off Villanova

The Marquette Golden Eagles started Big East play with three straight losses but since then, they’ve turned into contenders.  Wednesday night, 24th ranked Marquette made it a season sweep of #14 Villanova with an 83-73 victory over the Wildcats at Fiserv Forum.   It’s the sixth time this year the Golden Eagles have beaten a ranked team.     A strong first half had Marquette up 46-32 at the break but Villanova battled back to within three before Darryl Morsell knocked down a couple of key shots late to quiet the charge.    Justin Lewis led the Golden Eagles with 19 points while Tyler Kolek put up 18.  Morsell finished with 15 as Marquette improved to 16-7 overall, 8-4 in Big East play.    Winning 9 of their last 10 games has lifted Marquette to third place in the conference behind Providence and Villanova.