Coppin St. Eagles Related Links: Team Page City Page Schedule Stats

Marquette Golden Eagles Related Links: Team Page City Page Schedule Stats

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- After a first half that was too close for comfort, No. 19 Marquette buckled down on defense and defeated Coppin State, 64-46 in the Blue & Gold Classic.

Marquette (2-0) got 24 points from Dwyane Wade and will face Texas-San Antonio in Saturday's championship game. Coppin State, which kept things close early, will face Idaho State in the consolation game.

Wade shot 11-of-18 from the field and also came down with seven rebounds. Wade's backcourt mate, Travis Diener, scored six points and dished out eight assists.

Center Robert Jackson added 13 points and nine rebounds. Jackson, a transfer from Mississippi State, made hie debut in front of the home fans in Milwaukee, where he played in high school.

Marquette played a very clean game, committing only nine fouls and sending Coppin State (0-1) to the line for only two free throws.

Coppin State hung tough and trailed 36-30 at halftime thanks to its hot shooting. The Eagles converted 52 percent (12-of-23) of their field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, however, the Golden Eagles played much better defense. Marquette forced Coppin State into three consecutive shot clock violations at one point and held the Eagles to just 22 percent from the field (6-of-27).

Jimmy Boykin led Coppin State with 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the first half, including 4-of-4 3-pointers. Boykin took seven more shots in the second half, including four more from downtown, but missed every single one. He was the only player on either side to play the entire 40 minutes.

Labeeb Muhammad, who scored eight points off the bench for Coppin State in the first half, also failed to score in the second, missing the only shot he took.

Marquette has won all three of its meetings with Coppin State.