If ever there was going to be a cloud over this season for the men's basketball team, Travis Diener's ankle injury was as dark and menacing as it got.

But when Diener returned Saturday and the cloud dissipated, the silver lining that had been obscured by a 1-2 record during the senior point guard's absence became vividly clear: more Marquette players were scoring.

Having to play three games without their leading scorer and offensive weapon, the Golden Eagles were forced to score on their own, and whether it was senior Todd Townsend at Louisville Jan. 26 (17 points and 4 rebounds after going a perfect three for three from behind the arc), junior Steve Novak at Saint Louis (23 points and 7 rebounds) or junior Joe Chapman at home against Alabama-Birmingham (21 points, 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point land), someone stepped up.

"One of my favorite moments, maybe of my career was the Saint Louis game where those guys made so many plays and just battled it out," Diener said. "Down eight with three minutes left, (we) really hadn't scored the whole game, then all of a sudden we go on an 8-0 run to tie it up.

"The character of this team was tested there and we proved that, without me, with me, we can make plays. I was happy for the guys, they've gotten a lot better since I've been gone."

Starting without both Diener and Chapman against Southern Miss, Marquette had to flash some of that offensive independence in order to stay in the game Saturday. Although no one dominated, Novak, freshman Ryan Amoroso, Townsend and sophomore Dameon Mason kept pace with Southern Miss until Diener's return midway through the first half.

Everybody did just enough: Novak had his three-point shot going for him, Amoroso was able to hit open jumpers, and Townsend and Mason were able to get to the basket, scoring and drawing a lot of fouls.

And the fun didn't stop when No. 34 came back. Despite receiving a discernible lift from Diener's return to the court, the Golden Eagles kept scoring on their own, something that came in handy especially during the 11 minutes that Diener was not on the court. The offensive balance also helped take some of the burden off of the point guard and his freshly healed ankle.

"That was nice, just the way the game played out. Great distribution, 17 assists, that's very good for us," head coach Tom Crean said. "I'm proud of our guys. Everybody for the last two weeks has played out of position."

He believes the team did as much as they could to apply that silver lining while Diener was out.

"Our whole goal when he got hurt was to be a better team when he came back," Crean said. "We went 1-2 in his absence, but I have no doubt we're a better team than we were a couple weeks ago. You're just that much better now that you can play a different role, you can step into different groups.

"When you're faced with change, you either accept it and embrace it or you fight it. It doesn't do us any good to fight it; we have to accept it and deal with it, and that's what this team is trying to do. I do think they're getting better, absolutely."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 8 2005.