No. 20 Marquette 79, No. 17 Pittsburgh 69: Vander Blue scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half as the host Golden Eagles moved back into a tie atop the Big East.

Blue was held to seven points, his low this season in league play, in a loss to Georgetown on Monday, but had that many in the first four-plus minutes of this one as Marquette (18-6, 9-3) raced to a 42-29 halftime lead. Davante Gardner scored 10 of his 14 points in just over two minutes of action down the stretch.

Lamar Patterson led Pittsburgh (20-6, 8-5) with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. His fellow starters combined to go 8-for-25 from the floor.

The Golden Eagles shot 61.5 percent in a blistering first half and led by 17 on a Blue jumper five minutes into the second half. The Panthers closed to within 61-50 before Gardner took over, finishing his 10-point outburst with a layup with 4:21 remaining to make it 72-54.

Pittsburgh's comeback attempt was hurt by a technical foul on coach Jamie Dixon with 6:05 to go and a flagrant foul on Patterson 35 seconds later. Patterson's fourth 3-pointer cut it to 77-67 with 1:22 remaining, but the rally fell short.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Marquette extended the fourth-longest home winning streak in the nation to 23 games. It has won 16 straight Big East games at the Bradley Center dating to March 2, 2011. ... Tray Woodall added 10 points and a game-high eight assists for Pitt. ... Jamil Wilson came off the bench to produce 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Golden Eagles.