Cordell Henry scored 24 points and repeatedly darted through Louisville's intense full-court pressure for soft jumpers Thursday, steadying No. 13 Marquette to an 84-76 victory in the Conference USA tournament.

        The Golden Eagles (25-5) will play either Memphis — a team they didn't face in the regular season — or Houston in the semifinals on Friday.

        Louisville (18-12) erased most of an 18-point deficit by going to its press, forcing Henry to dribble the length of the floor through a dizzying array of traps. Soaked with sweat and gulping breaths, Marquette's best ball handler hit a pair of floating jumpers down the stretch to finish off the Golden Eagles' third win over Louisville this season.

        Reece Gaines scored 29 points for Louisville and Luke Whitehead — playing most of the second half with four fouls — had 25 points and a dunk that cut Marquette's lead to 67-65 with five minutes left.

        Henry then hit a floating jumper and Dwyane Wade had a dunk that rebuilt the lead to 71-65. Wade had a pull-up jumper and a putback that made it 75-67 with 2:07 remaining.

        Louisville never seriously threatened after Henry dribbled as the shot clock wound down and hit another floating jumper with 1:14 to go.

        Twenty-four hours after running the floor at top speed in a 110-86 win over TCU, Louisville had to put on the breaks and search for openings against Marquette's impenetrable half-court defense.

        There weren't many, and the Cardinals quickly got flustered. They missed nine of their first 11 shots, including five 3-point attempts, as Marquette pulled ahead 14-4.

        Travis Diener and Oluoma Nnamaka hit 3s in an eight-point run that pushed the lead to 33-15 with 7:23 to play and left the Cardinals' offense in shambles.

        Louisville coach Rick Pitino called a timeout and turned to the press to create points. Larry O'Bannon's steal and layup off an inbound pass highlighted a 10-2 run that cut the lead to 37-27 before the comeback stalled.

        Louisville stayed with the press at the start of the second half and got results. Marquette had five turnovers in the first five minutes, and Whitehead scored seven consecutive points as the Cardinals cut the lead to 48-41.

        Whitehead's 17-foot jumper made it 49-45 with 13:50 to play and energized a crowd dominated by Louisville fans. They got quiet when Ellis Myles and Whitehead each got their fourth fouls in the next 33 seconds, leaving Louisville's front line handcuffed.

        Myles fouled out with 6:55 to go, and Louisville never got closer than two points down the stretch.

        The Cardinals went 15-of-30 on 3-point shots against TCU's disinterested defense, but couldn't get uncontested shots against some of the conference's best perimeter defenders.

        Louisville was 1-of-11 on 3-point shots in the first half, shooting 35.3 percent overall. Bryant Northern, who had a career-high 25 points against TCU and went 8-of-9 from the field, went 0-for-7 from the field and failed to score.

LOUISVILLE (76)


                          fg    ft    rb             
                   min   m-a   m-a   o-t   a  pf   tp
E Myles             18   2-3   2-2   0-1   1   5    6
L Whitehead         32 11-17   3-5   3-5   0   4   25
J N'Sima            28   0-1   0-2   4-7   1   3    0
R Gaines            38  8-18  9-10   1-8   4   4   29
B Northern          21   0-7   0-0   1-3   4   5    0
L O'Bannon          33  4-10   2-2   0-0   3   3   11
A Mohammed          16   2-2   0-1   0-2   0   1    5
S Naydenov           1   0-0   0-0   0-0   0   0    0
E Brown             11   0-5   0-0   1-1   1   2    0
O George             2   0-0   0-0   0-0   0   2    0


_____________________________________________________
TOTALS             200 27-63 16-22 10-27  14  29   76
_____________________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.429, FT-.727. 3-Point Goals:
6-19, .316 (R Gaines 4-9, B Northern 0-3, L 
O'Bannon 1-4, A Mohammed 1-1, E Brown 0-2). 
Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 2 (J N'Sima,
L O'Bannon). Turnovers: 14 (R Gaines 3, L 
O'Bannon 3, O George 2, E Myles, J N'Sima, A 
Mohammed, L Whitehead, B Northern, E Brown). 
Steals: 9 (R Gaines 3, E Myles 2, L Whitehead
2, E Brown, A Mohammed).


MARQUETTE (84)


                          fg    ft    rb             
                   min   m-a   m-a   o-t   a  pf   tp
O Blankson          12   1-2   0-0   1-3   0   4    2
O Nnamaka           30   3-6   3-4   0-2   1   4   10
S Merritt           24   2-4   5-5   1-4   1   4    9
C Henry             39  9-18   4-6   2-3   2   1   24
D Wade              27  5-14   1-3   6-9   3   3   11
T Diener            30   2-5   5-8   0-5   2   0   11
D Diggs             13   1-3   3-4   1-3   0   1    6
J Harris            17   3-3   3-3   3-4   0   2    9
T Sanders            8   0-0   2-4   0-1   0   1    2


_____________________________________________________
TOTALS             200 26-55 26-37 14-34   9  20   84
_____________________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.473, FT-.703. 3-Point Goals:
6-12, .500 (O Nnamaka 1-2, C Henry 2-3, D 
Wade 0-1, T Diener 2-3, D Diggs 1-3). Team 
Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 4 (S Merritt 2, T
Sanders, D Wade). Turnovers: 15 (D Wade 4, O 
Blankson 2, J Harris 2, C Henry 2, T Diener 
2, O Nnamaka 2, S Merritt). Steals: 2 (C 
Henry, D Wade).


-----------------------------------
LOUISVILLE           30  46   -  76
MARQUETTE            42  42   -  84
----------------------------------- 


Technical fouls: None.