Everyone procrastinates once in awhile, putting off what needs to be done until the last minute. Procrastination also often leads to a few heart-pounding hours in which the work that should have been done long ago must get done quickly, or else.
That was no less true when the men's basketball team suffered a particularly bad bout of procrastination Saturday during their game against South Florida at the Bradley Center.
The team put off winning until the absolute last second — five seconds, to be exact — when Todd Townsend was fouled as he hit a clutch layup under the basket. After making his free throw, Townsend put Marquette up by two over the Bulls, who heaved up a desperation three in vain as the clock ran out.
Townsend's heroic moment was the culmination of a second half push to save the game. After frittering away the first half, Marquette found itself down by 11 to a South Florida team that was playing above its reputation going into the halftime break.
Coming off a demoralizing loss at Memphis two days earlier in which the team committed 25 turnovers, Marquette seemed to be playing dead through the first 20 minutes. South Florida led for the entire first half and always seemed to be a step ahead of the Golden Eagles, shooting 56 percent from the field to the home team's 30 percent.
Head coach Tom Crean responded with a different look after halftime, changing his starting lineup to include Townsend, junior Joe Chapman and freshman Ousmane Barro along with game-starters Travis Diener and Marcus Jackson.
The change in energy level was dramatically noticeable. Diener started off the half by stealing the ball and streaking down court for an easy fast-break layup, setting the tone for the makeup work Marquette would have to do to win the game. The three bench players would combine for 15 points and seven rebounds, but more importantly helped inject a sense of urgency that hadn't been there before.
"You're going to go feast or famine when you make wholesale changes like we did at the half, but we needed something," Crean said. "We needed a jolt. And a couple glasses of Mountain Dew weren't going to do it. We needed a jolt and we got it. The bench played great, made some shots early, which gave everybody the confidence to get it going."
When the starters did return, they seemed to be playing with a renewed energy as well. Dameon Mason especially responded, adding seven of his nine points after receiving that second-half "jolt."
With 9:43 to go in the second half, freshman Ryan Amoroso stole the ball from South Florida's Solomon Jones, but Mason missed a three-point attempt at the other end of the floor. Playing with a renewed sense of confidence, however, Marquette didn't let the Mason miss and subsequent rebound by Leather discourage them. As Leather attempted to start a fast break, Diener stole the ball and dished to Mason for their own little fast break, and Mason redeemed himself with an easy dunk to bring the Golden Eagles within two.
Mason's recharged energy level further helped Marquette when with 6:42 to go, Diener stole the ball yet again — this time from the Bulls' #25 James Holmes— and dished to Mason again, who hit an acrobatic reverse layup on the ensuing fast break to bring Marquette within one.
After Leather responded with a dunk to put South Florida back up by three, junior forward Steve Novak was fouled from behind the three point line by Leather, and Novak hit all three of his free throws to give Marquette its first lead of the night.
Townsend capped off the frenzied comeback five minutes later, and Marquette was able to come away with the win.
When Diener brought the ball around to the side with seven seconds left and the Golden Eagles down by one, South Florida defenders came up to help defend the point guard, leaving Townsend alone underneath the basket. Diener found the senior forward, who still had to fight with Jones for the shot. After Jones fouled him, Townsend went to the line and secured the win.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 18 2005.