Freshman forward Dawson Garcia scored a team-high 19 points in his collegiate debut, and Marquette pulled away for a 99-57 win over visiting Arkansas Pine-Bluff on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.

Senior forward Jamal Cain contributed 16 points and six rebounds for Marquette (1-0), which led by double digits for the majority of the contest. Senior forward Theo John added 13 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth career double-double.

Shaun Doss Jr., a redshirt junior guard, led UAPB with 27 points. The next-highest scorer for UAPB (0-1) was junior guard Joshuwan Johnson, who finished with seven points despite making only two of 12 shots from the field.

It was the first game for Marquette since the departure of guard Markus Howard, a two-time All-American who led the nation in scoring last season with 27.8 points per game. Howard recently signed with the Denver Nuggets as an undrafted free agent.

The Golden Eagles shot 51.8 percent (29 of 56) overall and 38.5 percent (10 of 26) from 3-point range.

UAPB shot 27.3 percent (18 of 66) from the field and 15 percent (3 of 20) from beyond the arc.

Marquette raced to a 50-18 lead at the half.

The Golden Eagles opened the game on a 17-2 run, which was punctuated by a jumper from Cain on an assist from Greg Elliott. Marquette had a trio of 3-pointers during the early scoring outburst from Cain, Garcia and Koby McEwen.

A 3-pointer from Elliott extended Marquette's lead to 30 points with 6:22 remaining in the half. Symir Torrence assisted on the play, which made it 36-6, before UAPB responded with a 3-pointer from Johnson on the next scoring play.

Torrence capped the scoring in the first half with a 3-pointer in the final minute to make it 50 points for Marquette.

UAPB guard Cameron Posey was ejected from the game early in the second half. John grabbed a rebound for Marquette and inadvertently hit Posey with an elbow, which prompted Posey to react by attempting a punch before he could stop himself.

Posey appeared to immediately regret his reaction. He apologized to John before leaving the court.

--Field Level Media