Milwaukee, WI -- Travis Diener scored a game-high 22 points to lead No. 25 Marquette to a 77-72 victory over Sacred Heart at the Bradley Center.

Terry Sanders and Steve Novak each scored 12 for the Golden Eagles (9-2), who have won two straight.

Maurice Bailey scored 18 points and Jarrid Frye added 14 for the Pioneers (4-5), who have lost two of their last three games.

Marquette led by 11 at halftime, but the Pioneers used a 13-4 run to pull within 53-51 after the break.

Diener hit back-to-back jump shots to ignite an 8-2 run that gave the Eagles a 61-53 advantage. Joe Chapman hit a pair from the line and Brandon Bell's jumper capped the run with 7:27 left.

Sacred Heart scored eight of the next nine points, including a pair of three- pointers by Bailey, to cut the Marquette lead to 62-61.

The Golden Eagles ran off six straight points for a 68-61 advantage, but a 6-2 spurt by Sacred Heart made it a three-point game, 70-67, with two minutes to go.

Diener buried a key three-pointer with just over a minute left on the clock to stretch the Marquette advantage to 73-67 and the Eagles held on for the victory.

With the game tied at 21-21, Diener hit a pair of free throws with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half to spark a 13-5 run by the Eagles. Scott Merritt and Novak hit back-to-back three-pointers during the burst. Novak, who scored seven points in the run, hit a jumper with five minutes left before the break to give Marquette a 34-26 advantage.

Behind 12 points from Novak, the Eagles went to the locker room with a 49-38 lead.

Frye led all first-half scorers with 14 points.

Game Notes:

This was the first-ever meeting between the schools...Marquette scored a season-high 49 points in the first half...Sacred Heart shot 47 percent (26- of-55) and Marquette shot 51 percent (27-53) from the field...Marquette returned to the Top 25 on Monday after falling out for one week.