Joshua Clark scored a career-high 18 points and Royce Parham added 16 to lead the Marquette Golden Eagles to a dominant 78-43 victory over Mercyhurst in Milwaukee on Monday night.
It was Clark’s first game scoring in double-figures and he did so on 8-of-9 shooting with seven boards. Sananda Fru added 12 points and 12 rebounds in his Marquette debut after transferring from Louisville.
Jake Lemelman, one of the very few returners to this Mercyhurst squad from a season ago, led the way with 16. Hunter Te Ratana added eight.
Fru got the home fans excited early in his Marquette debut, scoring six points and grabbing two rebounds in the first two minutes. The Golden Eagles started the game on a 13-2 run.
Marquette would extend that lead to 36-14 at the halftime break. Parham led in first-half scoring with 11 on 4-of-6 shooting, making one of the Golden Eagles’ two 3-pointers (2-for-13).
Marquette went on a 10-0 run to begin the second half to go up by 32 with 16:17 to play. The Golden Eagles then went on an 18-2 run later in the second half to increase their advantage.
Bob Cousy award watch-list point guard Nigel James Jr. had a quiet start to his season, failing to score in the first half and scoring eight with three assists on the night.
The Golden Eagles grabbed 20 offensive boards, scoring 17 second-chance points. Marquette also assisted 23 of the 29 shots it made from the floor.
This was the first-ever matchup between these programs as Mercyhurst is in its final year of NCAA Tournament ineligibility following a move up from Division II.