Marquette Falls Short

East Carolina didn’t know how big a talent gap there would be when it joined Conference USA this season. The Pirates are closing the gap fast.

The Pirates pulled off one of the biggest upsets this season, holding No. 9 Marquette to six points in the final 12 minutes for a 51-46 victory Tuesday night at Greenville, N.C.

“East Carolina plays as hard as anybody in this league, and that includes us, Cincinnati, you name it,” Marquette Coach Tom Crean said. “We didn’t play for 40 minutes and when you don’t play for 40 minutes in this league you are not going to succeed. We need to understand that--this time of year more than any time.”

The Pirates (12-16, 5-10) used a 2-3 zone defense that frustrated Marquette (23-5, 12-3).

“You can’t put a price tag on what this win does for our basketball program,” said East Carolina Coach Bill Herrion, whose club clinched a spot in the conference tournament next week at Cincinnati.

“I doubted whether we could compete in this league before we got in it,” Herrion added. “I told everybody we had to figure out how wide the gap was here. Can we even get on the floor and function in this league?”

Travis Holcomb-Faye scored 15 points for East Carolina and Dwyane Wade had 19 for Marquette.

No. 5 Oklahoma 89, Iowa State 75--Aaron McGhee had 26 points and the Sooners (23-4, 12-3 Big 12) capped a 16-0 home season, their first perfect home record since 1994-95.

No. 8 Florida 68, Tennessee 62--Brett Nelson made his four three-point shots in the final 11 minutes at Gainesville, Fla., to help the Gators (21-6, 10-5 Southeastern Conference) keep their hopes alive for the regular-season title.

If Alabama beats Auburn tonight, the Crimson Tide wins the championship outright.

No. 10 Pittsburgh 73, Seton Hall 66--Brandin Knight scored 19 points and the Panthers (24-4, 12-3) scored the final 12 points in overtime at East Rutherford, N.J., to clinch first place in the West Division of the Big East.

No. 15 Illinois 70, No. 25 Indiana 62--Frank Williams had 24 points at Champaign, Ill., and the seventh consecutive victory for the Illini (22-7) created a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten.

Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin and the Illini each are 10-5 in the conference with one game remaining.

Michigan State 81, No. 18 Ohio State 76--Marcus Taylor scored a career-high 32 points and the Spartans (18-10, 9-6 Big Ten) rallied at Columbus, Ohio, for their fourth consecutive victory.

Brian Brown scored 24 points for the Buckeyes (19-7, 10-5).

No. 22 Miami 81, Providence 65--Darius Rice scored 30 points for the Hurricanes (22-6, 9-6 Big East) at Providence, R.I.

Providence point guard John Linehan had four steals and became the NCAA’s career leader with 377, one more than Eric Murdock, who played for the Friars from 1987-91. Providence fell to 15-14, 6-9.