Marquette 64, Southeastern Louisiana 53: Davante Gardner had 18 points and six rebounds and Chris Otule added 10 points as the host Golden Eagles withstood an upset bid by the pesky Lions.

Marquette (2-0) led 52-41 with 7:57 left in the second half, but the Lions (0-2) answered with a 9-0 run before fading in the final minutes.

Jan Petrovcic’s free throw with 4:13 to play cut the Golden Eagles’ lead to 53-51, but Marquette finally drew clear with nine straight points. Jeffery Ricard scored 11 points and Brandon Fortenberry added nine for the Lions, who were outrebounded 35-27.

Otule also had five rebounds for Marquette, which led 32-29 at halftime. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, with Southeastern Louisiana shooting 5-of-20 (25 percent) and Marquette going 2-of-10 (20 percent).

GAME NOTEBOOK: Marquette improved to 11-1 all-time against teams currently in the Southland Conference. … The game marked Southeastern Louisiana’s second all-time meeting against a Big East opponent. … Jamil Wilson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for Marquette, which improved to 76-11 when leading at the half under coach Buzz Williams.