Jovan Milicevic scored 21 points and nailed the go-ahead layup with 1:14 remaining as 10th-seeded Xavier outlasted seventh-seeded Marquette, 89-87, in the opening round of the Big East tournament on Wednesday.

Milicevic made 7 of 11 shots and 4 of 7 from three-point range, finishing just two points shy of his career high set last month in a 96-88 win over Marquette. His biggest basket came on a clear path to the rim, breaking an 80-all tie after the Musketeers (15-17) had blown a 10-point lead.

Xavier will face second-seeded UConn in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

Following Milicevic’s clutch layup, Tre Carroll spun past Marquette’s Ben Gold for a jumper with 23 seconds remaining, and Filip Boravicanin sank two free throws to push Xavier’s lead to 86-81 with 14 seconds left.

The Golden Eagles (12-20) came within two points twice in the final 12 seconds on baskets by Nigel James Jr. Marquette had a chance to tie with 1.6 seconds remaining, but Malik Messina-Moore missed the second of two free throws. Carroll immediately fouled Royce Parham, who made the first and intentionally missed the second. Marquette nearly grabbed the rebound, but James’ attempt to keep the ball inbounds came after the horn.

Carroll finished with 18 points, 14 of them in the second half after sitting out Xavier’s regular-season finale against Villanova with a right hip injury. Messina-Moore also scored 18 as Xavier shot 63.3% in the second half and 51.6% overall.

Parham led Marquette with 22 points and nine rebounds, while James, named Big East Freshman of the Year earlier in the day, added 18 points but shot just 6-of-17. Chase Ross contributed 16 points for the Golden Eagles, who made 11 of their season-high-tying 40 three-point attempts and finished at 42.5% shooting.

Xavier opened a 23-14 lead on a three by Milicevic with 11:03 left in the first half, and Messina-Moore’s corner three put the Musketeers up 29-19 nearly two minutes later. Marquette responded with a 15-2 run, and Ross’ consecutive layups gave them a 34-31 lead with 4:56 left. The teams were tied 38-38 at halftime.

In the second half, Xavier scored 11 straight points and took a 56-48 lead on Carroll’s jumper with 12:28 remaining. Carroll later drove for a 10-point advantage at 68-58, and Milicevic’s corner three extended the lead to 68-59 with 8:07 left. Marquette answered with an 11-4 run to narrow it to 72-70. After Carroll’s basket put Xavier up 78-72 with 4:33 left, James tied the game at 80 with two free throws at 1:56 remaining.

Xavier held on for the 89-87 win in a thrilling opening-round matchup.

—Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media/Reuters