Demons aim to upset 8th-ranked Marquette in Friday night matchup

MILWAUKEE - Northwestern State hopes its deep roster can cause problems Friday night for No. 8-ranked, unbeaten Marquette and its spectacular sophomore point guard Dominic James, as the Demons visit the Golden Eagles in a matchup of 2006 NCAA Tournament teams in the seminfinals of the 45th Annual Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic college basketball tournament. Tipoff is projected for 8 p.m. at the 18,550-seat Bradley Center following the first semifinal between Princeton (4-1) and North Dakota State (3-2) at 5:30. Marquette has won the tournament 29 times, including six of the last seven years. The Golden Eagles haven`t lost a semifinal game in the Blue & Gold Classic since 1966, when South Carolina beat Marquette in the tournament`s opening round. Marquette (7-0), which posted a 73-62 win over Duke last week, has soared into the nation`s top 10 behind James, last year`s Big East Conference Rookie of the Year. James scored the Golden Eagles` last 18 points Tuesday night, including a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left in a 65-62 victory at Valparaiso. Northwestern (4-2) has its two losses to teams getting Top 25 poll votes, Oklahoma State (79-76) and Louisville (100-87). The Demons beat a nationally-ranked team in the NCAA Tournament last March, upsetting No. 15 Iowa. Coach Mike McConathy`s Demons fielded the nation`s deepest, most productive roster in each of the last two seasons and will clearly contend for that distinction again, with an average of 12 players seeing action each game with nine scoring. Already, nine Demons have posted double-figure scoring games. "Being able to send fresh legs out there gives us a chance to compete at a high level in games like this," said McConathy. "Dominic James is one of the most dynamic players in college basketball and he`s far from their only good player. Marquette has an excellent team and we`ll need our best performance of the season to be in position to win the game coming down the stretch." The Demons, 20-4 in their last 24 games, have won three in a row, topping Henderson State, New Orleans and Centenary. Junior forward Trey Gilder, after a career-best 25 points Tuesday night against Centenary, leads NSU with a 14.8 scoring average and gets 4.2 rebounds a game while averaging nearly a point per minute (89 points, 110 minutes played off the bench). Senior guard Luke Rogers and junior forward Colby Bargeman each score 13 points per game, with Rogers contributing 3.0 steals and Bargeman 4.7 rebounds per game. Marquette is paced by James` 18.6 scoring average after his 22-point performance at Valpo. MU also gets double-figure scoring from two more guards, 6-3 sophomore Jerel McNeil (13.4) and 6-5 sophomore Wesley Matthews (11.7). The Golden Eagles lost in the first round of last year`s NCAA Tournament to Alabama, three years after reaching the NCAA Final Four behind the 2006 NBA Championship Series MVP, Dewayne Wade.