Golden Eagles Alumni struggled to find shooting rhythm early Saturday, trailing 32-27 with about two minutes left in the first half.

“Everybody was off to start,” Jamil Wilson said. “Nobody canned anything. I missed my first layup … guys were missing wide open shots.”

Then Wilson took over.

After missing his first six shots and five threes, Wilson hit six consecutive threes over the next nine minutes to help Golden Eagles Alumni avoid an early upset and take down the Johnnies 78-67.

“He got some open ones,” teammate Jerel McNeal said. “Those big guys (defending him) aren’t able to help out on the pick-and-roll and get out to him, especially when he’s making shots like that.”

Prior to Wilson’s shooting spree, Marquette was shooting just over 30 percent from the field. The team finished with 43 percent shooting.

“When it’s a team and a family bond like the Marquette tradition is, you see a brother make a shot, it does nothing but boost your morale,” Wilson said.

The 6-foot-7 forward finished with 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field and 9-of-16 shooting from 3-point range. He also had four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Wilson credited the team’s guards for distributing the ball well. Golden Eagles Alumni had 22 assists, compared to 11 turnovers. Twelve of those assists came from Maurice Acker.

“I asked for a couple of (the threes), but most of them were just in the swing of things,” Wilson said. “It was just playing off (my teammates) and making it easy for them.”

Jamal Branch led the Johnnies in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Branch also hit six of 10 3-pointers, helping the Johnnies remain within single digits until the Elam Ending.

“It’s difficult because he can shoot from everywhere,” Chapman said. “That was our adjustment at halftime: making sure we touch-and-switched and not just making him shoot it. Make him drive it.”

A short-handed Johnnies team could only get so far with seven available players. Chapman used a guard-heavy roster to wear down St. John’s alumni team.

“It’s Marquette University, so guard play is huge,” McNeal laughed. “We got a great group of guys out there.”

Golden Eagles Alumni also had the advantage of holding a team training camp this week to run through a few plays. The Johnnies only had three players at their shootaround Friday night. This gave Marquette extra time to blend playing styles from three different eras.

“It’s like a melting pot,” Wilson said. “You get together and you take what you got from where you were, the era you were from, and run together.”

Marquette will take on Hall In (Seton Hall alumni) Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center. Hall In is coming off an 88-77 win over Jack Attack (Georgetown alumni) Saturday afternoon. Quenton DeCosey and Jeremy Hazell combined to score 40 points on 16-of-31 shooting.

A Marquette win would send Golden Eagles Alumni to the second weekend of TBT for the third straight year.