Marquette 69, Cal State Northridge 66

A tie-breaking free throw by Oluoma Nnamaka and two more by Cordell Henry, all in the final 1:24, gave the Golden Eagles the victory in the championship of the Blue and Gold Coca-Cola Classic at Milwaukee.

The Golden Eagles (3-1) held off the Matadors (4-2) in the final moments of a second half that featured seven ties. The last was at 66-66 with 1:53 to play after a three-point play by Northridge’s John Burrell.

The Golden Eagles held the Matadors scoreless the rest of the game and won it in three trips to the line--despite making only one of two free throws each time.

Nnamaka’s free throw at 1:24 made it 67-66, and Henry added one with 1:10 left and another with 16 seconds to play.

Burrell misfired on a three-point try that could have sent the game into overtime.

Brian Wardle scored 23 points, Nnamaka 14 and Scott Merritt 10 for Marquette.

Brian Heinle scored 19 points, Burrell 17 and Jeff Parris 16 for the Matadors, who used a 16-5 run to close the first half for a 39-38 lead at the break.