Howard’s 42 points help lead Marquette over Georgetown, 84-80

WASHINGTON — Markus Howard scored half of Marquette’s total points and Koby McEwen hit four free throws in the final nine seconds as the Golden Eagles held off Georgetown to earn an 84-80 Big East Conference victory on Saturday afternoon.

Howard was second in the nation with a 27.3 points-per-game average through 16 games coming into the crucial conference game at Georgetown. Against the Hoyas he was 14 of 31 from the field, including 6 of 14 from distance, and 8 of 12 from the line.

McEwen was just 1 of 6 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts as well as his first two from the free-throw line for Marquette (13-5, 3-3). But in the final seconds of the game he was 4-for-4.

Mac McClung finished with 24 points and Omar Yurtseven added 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead Georgetown (12-7, 2-4).

Marquette returns home to face St. John’s Tuesday night in the annual Al’s Night game honoring legendary coach Al McGuire, who played at St. John’s before leading the Golden Eagles to a national championship in 1977. Georgetown is at Xavier Wednesday.