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The sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8) will play seventh-seeded Pittsburgh in the semifinals on Friday night. The Panthers advanced with a 76-69 victory over second-seeded and 13th-ranked Louisville.
Marquette was 0-2 in its only two previous quarterfinal appearances in the tournament and its first win in that round came at the expense of the conference player and coach of the year, Luke Harangody and Mike Brey of Notre Dame.
Reserve guard Maurice Acker scored 10 of his 11 points in a 4:07 span of the second half when Marquette took its first double-digit lead with 3:37 to play.
Kyle McAlarney had 20 points for the Fighting Irish (24-7), who reached the semifinals last year for the second time in school history.
Notre Dame appeared to be in good shape at halftime, leading 38-32 despite Harangody, the conference's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, being limited to just seven minutes because of foul trouble.
The Irish started the second half on a 6-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 44-34 with 18:42 to play.
McNeal, whose previous career high was 25 points last season, scored seven points as Marquette answered with a 13-2 run to take a 47-46 lead with 15:51 to go. Harangody, who finished with 13 points, scored eight straight points for Notre Dame but McNeal had eight of Marquette's next 10 as the Golden Eagles took the lead for good at 57-54 on his 3-pointer with 11:52 to play.
Acker, a 5-foot-8 sophomore who averagaes 4.5 points per game, started his personal run with a jumper that made it 66-57 with 7:44 left. When he hit his second straight 3 with 3:37 left to give Marquette a 76-66 lead, Notre Dame called a timeout and the Golden Eagles rushed to midcourt and picked up the diminutive Acker in celebration.
Marquette beat Seton Hall 67-54 in the opening round.
[Associated Press; By JIM O'CONNELL]
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