Golden Eagles come up short on Senior Day despite Howard's 37

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The top scorers got their points, Sandro Mamukelashvili made the difference.

Mamukelashvili had a career-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds to back Myles Powell’s 28 points as No. 13 Seton Hall built a big second-half lead and then held off Marquette 88-79 on Saturday.

Seton Hall (21-7, 13-3 Big East) led 44-35 at the half and extended the margin to 24 points midway through the final 20 minutes before Marquette rallied to 84-79 on a 3-pointer by Sacar Anim with 34 seconds left.

Mamukelashvili, a 6-11 junior forward, missed 10 games with a fractured right wrist, before returning on Jan. 29. The 6-11 junior forward made 10 of 13 shots, including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.

“He’s a dynamic player. He spread the floor for us, he does a lot of good things,” said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard . “He takes a lot of pressure off Myles. Having him back and seeing him round into form has given us a nice added dimension.”

Mamukelashvili has scored in double figures in six of the nine games since his return, with double-figure rebounds twice.

“There wasn’t much he wasn’t able to do,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “He scored at the basket, he scored on offensive rebounds, he drove the ball and he hit threes. He played like an NBA player tonight.”

The Pirates took their biggest lead at 74-50 on a 3-pointer by Powell with 11:02 remaining, before Marquette (18-10, 8-8) climbed back with 10 consecutive points.

Markus Howard, the Big East’s leading scorer and second in the nation at 27.2 points per game, had 37 points for the Golden Eagles, who have lost four of their last five. Anim added 13 points.