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As Marquette took the floor clinging to a two-point lead with 8.4 seconds left against DePaul, it did so without its freshman star Henry Ellenson, who averages the most minutes on the team and had 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks on the night.

Golden Eagles head coach Steve Wojciechowski opted to match DePaul's smaller, more athletic lineup with one of this own. Freshman Sacar Anim, a 6-foot-5 guard-forward who played nine minutes Wednesday after playing seven over the team's previous 10 games, subbed in for Ellenson.

"We wanted to get a lineup where we could switch ball screens," Wojciechowski said. "We knew they were going to go to (Billy) Garrett and we wanted to try to double him in the back court. I thought the smaller, more athletic lineup would be able to do that. We weren't able to get it corralled."

Not only was Marquette unable to stop the ball, but it also couldn't hold onto the win. Garrett drove past junior center Luke Fischer, banking home a layup while drawing a foul with 1.1 seconds left to give the Blue Demons a 57-56 victory.

Earlier this season, Ellenson blocked a shot by Providence's Kris Dunn to seal an upset victory on the road. Wednesday's situation, while similar, was slightly different because DePaul was inbounding in the backcourt with less time on the clock, meaning speed was going to be more of a factor than the half-court set at the end of the Providence game.

"I wasn't surprised," DePaul head coach Dave Leitao said when asked about Ellenson being on the bench for the last play. "I probably would have done the same thing, to be honest with you."

One factor worth noting is Ellenson spent much of the night sporting a slight limp. He suffered a bruise to his right shin near the end of Saturday's loss to Xavier and missed some time in the first half Wednesday while he had his right ankle taped on the bench.

Wojciechowski didn't let on that Ellenson's health factored into his decision ahead of his team's final defensive play.

"I think he's a little banged up which is typical for this time of year, especially with as much contact as he plays against and has to play through," he said.

New starters: After 15 games with the same starting lineup, Wojciechowski decided Wednesday night was time for a change. He hadn't been pleased with the inconsistency of his guards, so he opted to insert two players off the bench — juniors Wally Ellenson and Jajuan Johnson — who he thought had earned the opportunity with their play.

"I thought Wally and J.J. played the best against Xavier on the perimeter and we've had some unpredictability there and so you've got to go on a game-to-game basis with the guys who are playing well and that can be different guys on different nights," Wojciechowski said. "Those guys earned it based on their play in the Xavier game. That's just the reality of where we're at. We hope to as we get more experience get better consistency, but that's where we're at right now."

Johnson had a quiet but solid night until the final three minutes when he committed back-to-back turnovers. Prior to that he had six points, pulled down some strong, critical rebounds and dished out three assists without turning the ball over. Wally Ellenson played 11 quiet minutes in the first half then was subbed out for Duane Wilson following a turnover in the first minute of the second half and didn't play again.

Freshman Traci Carter and sophomore Sandy Cohen III, the two players moved out of the starting lineup, had quiet nights, playing 13 and 7 minutes, respecitvely. Neither made a shot and played only sparingly in the second half.

Deep bench: With Fischer slapped with two fouls just 3 1/2 minutes into the game and Henry Ellenson getting his right ankle taped up, Wojciechowski went 10-deep on his bench in the first half. It was his first time using all 10 of his scholarship players in the opening 20 minutes since a win over Maine on December 5.

Freshman center Matt Heldt got in first and acquitted himself well. He had a rebound, a block and drew a charge while playing 11 minutes in Fischer's stead in the first half. He tacked on two more minutes of playing time in the second half for his longest run of the season.

Anim got off the bench shortly after Heldt and didn't wait to make an impact. Thirty-three seconds after entering the game, he knocked down a corner three-pointer for his first points since the win over Maine.

"I thought Matt and Sacar gave really good minutes," Wojciechowski said. "We would hope that Luke would be in the game longer than he was, but that can happen. Seems to happen to him a lot, though, I'm not sure why that's the case."