Not even the presence of injured sophomore guard Jerel McNeal would have made a difference on a night in which Michigan State outplayed Marquette in every aspect of the game.,”WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-With a whimper the Marquette men's basketball season ends.

Not even the presence of injured sophomore guard Jerel McNeal would have made a difference on a night in which Michigan State outplayed Marquette in every aspect of the game.

The ninth-seeded Spartans registered the first victory by a higher seed on the first day of the NCAA tournament with a 61-49 win over the eighth-seeded Golden Eagles Thursday at Lawrence Joel Coliseum, but it was anything but an upset.

The Spartans opened up a 14-0 lead in the first nine-and-a-half minutes of the game and were rarely troubled the rest of the way. The loss marked the second-straight first-round exit for the Golden Eagles, who as a No. 7 seed lost 90-85 to Alabama in the 2006 tournament.

"For it to be ending this way… we wanted to advance further than we did last year," said sophomore Dominic James, who scored a game-high 18 points. "We felt like we had the personnel to advance" even without McNeal.

"We fell short again," said sophomore Wesley Matthews. "It did hurt to lose Jerel, but at the same time we were ready."

Marquette was affected most by the loss of McNeal in its lack of dribble penetration. The Golden Eagles went the entire first half without a two-point field goal because they often settled for threes when the Michigan State defense closed the driving lanes.

"We wanted to force them to take outside shots," Michigan State guard Drew Neitzel said. "We wanted to limit their penetration."

They did just that. Although James hit a three with the shot clock winding down to put Marquette within five at 20-15, the Golden Eagles had no consistent offensive threat with which to sustain a rally. Matthews often tried to dribble into traffic to spark the offense but ended up with six turnovers to show for it.

"I felt that our game plan was the only way we could play them, and we hoped they couldn't make too many threes," said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo.

Marquette made 10-of-29 threes for the game and shot 31.9 percent from the field.

The Spartans, on the other hand, were a model of efficiency on offense. They assisted on 17 of 22 made baskets and exploited a lackluster Marquette interior defense for easy baskets. Michigan State outscored Marquette in the paint 28-10.

"We got outplayed badly on the front line," said Marquette head coach Tom Crean.

The Spartans featured a balanced scoring attack, with Raymar Morgan leading the way with 14 points and Marquise Gray and Neitzel adding 12.

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