Marquette blows past DePaul with big second half

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DePaul’s Moses Morgan lands on his head after flying over Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom while trying to block a shot in the first half Monday. Morgan suffered a concussion and didn’t return. | Charles Cherney~AP

Updated: March 8, 2012 8:17AM

DePaul showed what it can be in the first half of its game Monday against Marquette at Allstate Arena.

But the final score — an 89-76 victory by the No. 18 Golden Eagles — showed how far the Blue Demons still have to go.

DePaul (11-12, 2-9 Big East) led by 12 points with 41/2 minutes left in the first half before Marquette
(20-5, 9-3) took control. The Golden Eagles closed the first half with an 11-2 run to pull to 43-40, then took the lead early in the second half before pulling away.

Darius Johnson-Odom led five Golden Eagles in double figures with 23 points.

‘‘We were playing hard the first half .  .  . but the second half we got too excited,’’ said forward Cleveland Melvin, who led the Demons with 22 points. ‘‘They were pressing us, and we made mistakes.

‘‘It’s really frustrating. We can’t lose our focus, and that’s what we did. We made bad mistakes in the second half.’’

Things could have been worse for DePaul had a first-half scare for forward Moses Morgan turned out to be more serious.

Morgan, who had missed the
Demons’ game Saturday at Cincinnati after fainting in practice Thursday, flipped in the air and landed on his head while trying to block a shot by Johnson-Odom. Medical personnel surrounded him immediately and a stretcher was brought out, but Morgan eventually sat up, then walked to the bench, drawing cheers from a crowd that included former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

Morgan was diagnosed with a concussion but had no other apparent injuries. He watched the second half, which turned out to be all about Marquette, from the bench.

‘‘Obviously, we got off to a pretty good start and played 16 minutes of good basketball,’’ DePaul coach Oliver Purnell said. ‘‘But we seem to run into that same problem. They played really well [in the second half], and we didn’t. We’re having a tough time sustaining 40 minutes.’’

Forward Jamee Crockett added 17 points, guard Worrel Clahar 16 and guard Charles McKinney 10 for the Demons. Guard Jeremiah Kelly returned after missing two games with a sore left hip and had four assists.

But guard Brandon Young played only 16 minutes and scored only two points on 1-for-5 shooting, and his subpar night had an impact.

‘‘[Young] didn’t play well,’’ Purnell said. ‘‘There’s no way to get around it.’’

‘‘Brandon is frustrated,’’ Melvin said. ‘‘He’s down on himself. I was trying to pick him up and the team was, but he was just down.’’