In Thursday’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the Golden Eagles were able to fight through a ragged 40 minutes and would-be loss to St. John’s in Madison Square Garden and were able to win in a low scoring game, 52-45.

Junior Travis Diener was the player of the game, and rightly so, leading his team with 18 points, 4 assists, 6 steals and no turnovers. Diener played all 40 minutes of the game, even playing after he aggravated the left knee which he injured in practice the day before and against Team Nike at the Bradley Center two weeks ago.

“We did a good job with defense and rebounding,” Diener said. “Those are two areas that we focus on. If we continue do that every game we can be successful. On offense, you won’t see us shoot that bad the rest of the year. If we can keep getting open shots, we will be fine. We just have to eliminate the turnovers.”

The game was close during the final minutes but free throws by Marquette’s best shooters, Diener and sophomore Steve Novak, who made six straight, closed out the game. The last time No. 23 Marquette scored was at 4:22 in the second half on a tip in from junior forward Marcus Jackson. The game was within three points after guard Darryl Hill made good on a three-point basket, followed by a layup at 2:27.

Leading the attack for the Red Storm was Grady Reynolds, who finished with 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting. St. John’s returning lead scorer, sophomore Elijah Ingram, only scored 6 points.

The Golden Eagles struggled to score points in the first half due to the amount of turnovers and missed baskets. Diener’s intensity, however, motivated his teammates while also taking control of the game, shooting 3-for-6 on three pointers — one off the dribble — to keep his team in the game.

” With the shooters we have, we are going to have shoot pretty bad to shoot 30 percent,” Diener said. ” There was some nervousness obviously, being the first game of the year and playing at Madison Square Garden. We’ll have to do a better job of executing our offense.”

Senior Scott Merritt only scored 6 points in the match after coming off a 23-point performance in both exhibition matches a week prior to the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Merritt did contribute defensively, collecting 7 rebounds, but foul trouble complicated his game further as he only played 26 minutes.

Marquette shot 29 percent from the field while St. John’s shot 31 percent and had 43-36 advantage in rebounds. Marquette’s downfall in the game was the 19 turnovers, Sophomore Joe Chapman and Merritt with four apiece, that led to the Red Storm’s 14 steals.

Marquette’s next match will be Friday against Savannah State at the Bradley Center in the Coca Cola Classic tournament. Marquette has won the tournament the last four years. The game begins at 8 p.m.