Markus Howard has 30 as slumping Marquette beats Seton Hall

   NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Markus Howard scored 32 points and Marquette breathed a little life into its NCAA Tournament hopes by snapping a four-game losing streak with an 88-85 victory over Seton Hall on Wednesday night.

   Sam Hauser added 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Golden Eagles (14-10, 5-7 Big East) made a dozen 3-pointers in beating the Pirates for the second time this season. Sacar Anim and Andrew Rowsey added 15 apiece.

   Desi Rodridguez had 21 points to lead Seton Hall (17-7, 6-5), which has lost four of its last six. Myles Powell had 18 points, Khadeen Carrington added 15 points and Angel Delgado had 11 for the Pirates, who lost the game at the free-throw line, making 20 of 33.

   Marquette, one of the top free-throw shooting teams in the country, was 20 of 23, making all 17 in the second half, including eight down the stretch.

   The Golden Eagles never trailed in the second half, using an early 16-8 run to turn a one-point halftime lead into a 58-49 lead.

   Marquette made it a 10-point game with 9:34 to go on a tip-in by Matt Heldt.

   Seton Hall, which had won 13 of its last 16 conference games at home, kept challenging and eventually got within 82-79 on a 3-pointer by Powell with 14.6 remaining.

   However, Howard made four free throws and Heldt added two in the closing seconds to ice the game for Marquette, which shot 48 percent from the field and 63 from long range (12 of 19).

   Howard finished 9 of 13 from the field and 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. It was his sixth 30-plus point game, topped by a 52-point effort against Providence.

   Despite shooting better than 59 percent from the field in the first half, Marquette only led 42-41. Seton Hall remained close by forcing eight turnovers and grabbing eight offensive rebounds, which led to an extra nine shots.