The writing is on the wall, and it is staring Todd Townsend in the face.

There isn't a next year. This is his senior season, and his career could be over in four games.

This has created a sense of urgency for the 6-7 forward, and he has translated that into aggressive play as of late.

"I really don't have nothing to lose," he said. "This is my senior year. I have to leave it all out there.

"I don't have many games left. I just have to keep going out and playing the way I am now — hard — each and every game."

Townsend has started four of the last five games and has averaged 30.4 minutes and 8.6 points per game during that span. His production brings back memories of the 2002-'03 season when he started every game on Marquette's Final Four team. According to Marquette head coach Tom Crean, Townsend's contribution can't be registered by numbers alone though.

"Todd is giving us unbelievable production right now," he said. "A lot of it doesn't show up when you look at the stat sheet. He gets crucial things done and he doesn't make many mistakes at all."

Second time is the charm

In the first meeting between Marquette and DePaul, Sammy Mejia was 9-of-15 from the field and scored 26 points to lead DePaul to an 85-72 victory. In the Jan. 20 game at Allstate Arena the sophomore guard also connected on 3-of-4 three-point attempts, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.

Sunday at the Bradley Center he looked like a different player. The Golden Eagles limited Mejia to six points, one rebound and two assists. He was 2-for-7 from the field and missed both of his three-point attempts.

In the first game "Sammy had his career (scoring) high, but today we did a great job on Sammy," senior guard Travis Diener said.

The Golden Eagles also did a nice job of shutting down Quemont Greer. The senior forward entered the game averaging 20 points per game, second only to Diener, but he finished with seven points below his average. Only two of his points came after halftime…

Barro-d time

Senior Chris Grimm's fractured arm created an opening in the playing rotation and freshman center Ousmane Barro stepped up and made the most of it.

Barro, who didn't play against Louisville and hadn't seen significant minutes since starting against Alabama-Birmingham Feb. 2, played nine minutes, scored four points and grabbed two boards.

"Ousmane came in and gave us some really solid minutes, his plus-minus was good for us today," Crean said…

The mighty Achilles is envious

Dameon Mason was nursing a minor foot injury Sunday that he suffered Thursday against Louisville. Mason played 22 minutes and notched seven points and five rebounds.

"I was really proud of the way Dameon played, because he's still somewhat bothered by an Achilles injury but he went out there and played," Crean said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 22 2005.