BOISE, Idaho — Wesley Matthews sat facing reporters, his eyes faintly bloodshot, just minutes removed from the end of his basketball playing career at Marquette.

The senior guard was trying to replay his thoughts as the final seconds wound down on Marquette's 83-79 loss to No. 3-seed Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "I don't think I had any thoughts. I was just kind of replaying in my head, I guess, how we got down to that point."

Matthews was but one prong in a much-celebrated three-guard attack for Marquette. The other two — Jerel McNeal and Dominic James — also saw their Marquette careers come to a close on the floor of Taco Bell Arena Sunday.

All three players rank among Marquette's top-10 all-time scorers. Their names dot the Marquette record books in a litany of other categories, from free throws made to games played.

But in the final 38 seconds of Marquette's 2008-'09 season, not one of them had the ball in their hands.

"It was tough just never being able to get the ball back in our possession to actually get a shot to either tie or go up on the game," said McNeal, who led all scorers with 30 points. "All we needed was a stop and we didn't, we didn't do a good enough job to get that stop and get the ball back."

At that 38-second mark, McNeal was fouled by Missouri guard J.T. Tiller. McNeal made 1-of-2 free throws, tying the game at 79-79. The Tigers called timeout and, on the other side of the break, ran the clock down under 10 seconds before Tiller drove hard to the hoop.

He was fouled by McNeal and laid on the ground for a while before hobbling back to the Missouri bench. Eventually, freshman guard Kim English checked in to take Tiller's place at the free throw line.

"I wasn't surprised. I don't think he's the greatest free throw shooter," McNeal said of Tiller. "That's one of the technicalities about the game, if you are somewhat hurt, faking hurt or whatever it is, you can lay on the ground, and then your trainer could come out and basically get a sub."

English hit both free throws, giving Missouri an 81-79 lead with 5.5 seconds remaining. On the ensuing inbound play, looking for an opening against the Tiger's full-court press, forward Lazar Hayward was called for stepping across the baseline. The ball belonged to Missouri.

That's when disbelief set in for the Golden Eagles.

"It definitely didn't look, it really didn't look like that to me," Matthews said. "I guess he stepped over the line or shuffled his feet or whatever…I didn't see any, any, any bad play there, but I'm not the one with the whistle."

By that time, James was relegated to the bench, rendered ineffective (zero points, one assist, 17 minutes) despite his near-miraculous return from a broken left foot suffered Feb. 25. McNeal and Matthews — who combined for 54 points on the night — had been spectacular in the second half, scoring 31 of Marquette's final 44 points as the Golden Eagles surged back from an 11-point deficit at the half.

"It was good to see them back, to be honest with you," coach Buzz Williams said. "They haven't played their absolute best over the last few days or over the last few games."

But when Marquette fell behind 83-79 on a pair of free throws from Missouri forward Leo Lyons (18 points, four rebounds), it didn't matter.

"It's a big hit," Hayward said of witnessing the end of the careers of James, McNeal and Matthews. "I've grown to have so much love for those guys, like they were one of my brothers."