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In the final moments of Wednesday night's game, it looked like Marquette was on the verge of evading its worst loss of the season.

Then DePaul's Billy Garrett Jr. sliced through the Golden Eagles defense and cut out their hearts to give the Blue Demons a 57-56 victory, their first at the BMO Harris Bradley Center since Feb. 16, 2000.

With 8.4 seconds left and Marquette clinging to a two-point lead, DePaul called timeout to set up one last play.

Everyone on the Marquette bench expected Garrett, a 6-foot-6 junior and the Blue Demons' second-leading scorer, to get the ball. Head coach Steve Wojciechowski even sat freshman forward Henry Ellenson for seldom-used freshman Sacar Anim to hopefully create better matchups.

"We wanted to get a lineup where we could switch ball screens," Wojciechowski said. "We knew they were going to go to 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."

After crossing half court, Garrett got a ball screen and Marquette junior center Luke Fischer switched onto him with about 5.5 seconds left. Garrett then dribbled left, using his quickness to drive past Fischer before cutting back to his right between Fischer and junior guard Jajuan Johnson for a tough layup with 1.1 seconds left.

He didn't just get the layup, though, he got a whistle, too. After getting beat, Fischer tried to reach over the top of Garrett for the block, but missed and instead was called for his fourth foul.

"We're up by two, no three-point plays at all," Fischer said, reviewing through the play. "He got to the rim, we tried to play as good of defense as we could and obviously the refs saw different."

Garrett, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half after going into the half 0 of 6 — coolly sank the free throw and Marquette redshirt sophomore Duane Wilson couldn't get his halfcourt heave off in time — though it missed anyway.

The loss was the third in a row for Marquette (12-7, 2-5 Big East) and snapped a six-game losing streak for DePaul (7-12, 1-6).

"Billy did a real good job," DePaul head coach Dave Leitao said. "(He) wasn't shooting particularly well, but we were going to ride him anyway."

It was a difficult end to a peculiar game for Marquette. Wojciechowski opted to change his starting lineup for the first time in 15 games, inserting Johnson and junior Wally Ellenson in place of freshman Traci Carter and sophomore Sandy Cohen III. He thought the pair of juniors earned the opportunity to start with their performance on Saturday against Xavier.

Those weren't the only changes.

Less than 31/2 minutes into the game, Fischer picked up his second foul, which led to freshman Matt Heldt playing 11 first-half minutes.

Henry Ellenson, who sported a pad on his right leg after bruising his shin on Saturday, also spent time on the bench getting his right ankle taped up and had a slight limp for much of the night. That cleared a spot for Anim, who promptly drained a three, his first points since Dec. 5.

With Fischer out, Marquette trailed, 26-22, at the half. The Golden Eagles never fell behind by more than five points, but didn't take the lead back until a basket by Fischer with 7:01 remaining. That shot was part of a 12-2 run that swung the momentum in Marquette's favor and gave the Golden Eagles a 52-47 lead with 5:09 on the clock.

Over those final five minutes, though, the wheels fell off.

After Fischer missed a pair of free throws, the Golden Eagles turned the ball over on four straight possessions. First came two from freshman Haanif Cheatham, who had four on the night, then back-to-back giveaways by Johnson. Garrett had three steals, made a layup and assisted on a Rashaun Stimage basket to help DePaul tie the game for the 10th time with 2:06 left.

Wilson broke the string of empty possessions by making a tough, long two-pointer, but Garrett answered with a pair of free throws.

Then a Fischer pass intended for Henry Ellenson got intercepted in the post, marking the Golden Eagles' fifth turnover in six possessions. Garrett missed at the other end and Marquette used its final timeout with 33.1 seconds left.

Wilson again came up big following that timeout. He drove the lane and missed a tough runner, but stuck with the play and put back his own miss, with the ball rolling around the rim before dropping. It capped a strong performance for the redshirt sophomore, who had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, four assists and no turnovers off the bench.

"I thought Duane had a terrific game; I thought it was maybe his best game of the season," Wojciechowski said. "He made good decisions and as a result of making good decisions he was rewarded for it. He should have had a game-winning shot, but it's unfortunate."

Garrett dominated late, but he wasn't the only star for DePaul. Senior forward Myke Henry had a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.

"Difficult way to lose," Wojciechowski said. "I thought our guys gave a winning effort. I thought we competed. Two areas that have been a real problem for us are rebounding and turnovers. They had 15 more shots at the basket than we did. I don't care who you're playing, that's a lot of shots.

"If you look at the percentages, we did a pretty good job defensively except rebounding-wise where we gave up 16 offensive rebounds. And we had turnovers at really crucial times. In terms of attitude and effort I thought our guys had winning looks and gave a winning effort, we just didn't win."