There’s your cover of tonight’s program and, sheesh, I’m feeling old. KJ and Truck play the first of their final two (regular season) home games tonight. I can remember trying to track down High School Senior Truck through his Rice coach like it was yesterday. I remember getting bombarded by Money Earnin’ folks telling me to buy what KJ was selling. And this is it. I’m always a fan of senior night ovations. Those ought to be good.

(Yes, I’m aware it’s not senior night. It’s the first of the final two home games. I swear I had that initially, but I was moving text trying to use a new widget for a live blog and I erased something and didn’t re-type it properly and ended up cramping up and saying final home game. Fingers moved faster than the brain. When I posted to Twitter, it went out to the world before the edit could stick.

My original point: Four years go fast. Carry on.)

And speaking of good ones, this cracked me up. The Orange Bowl trophy is making its way around the state like the Stanley Cup. Not to be outdone, here’s the August (!) V. Lambert Memorial Trophy. It’s alone in a corner in an entry gate that hardly anyone enters through.

We’re trying out a new thing on the blog this evening — an actual widget that auto refreshes and does things in a chronological order. I think I’ve got it figured out too.

Check the officials tonight! Jimmy Burr, Mike Roberts and Earl Walton.

And since you think Jim Burr is in two places at once, check out how Hertz does it in the postgame.

8:15: Marquette leads the Big East in pregame dunking. I’ve never seen a team do this.

8:18: Pregame discussion: Jim Burr has been pretty good lately. Yes or now?

8:23: Starters: Gary Browne, Jabarie Hinds, Deniz Kilicli and, in the first of their final two regular season home games, KJ and Truck.

Also, the players just left the floor for the locker room. Bill Raftery was ambling at Raftery’s pace the same way to use the rest room in one of the hallways. The players were jogging toward Raftery and the tunnel and caught up. Fans are leaning over reaching for fives from the player. Not entirely aware he’s about to be chased up the tunnel by the Mountaineers, Raftery extends his arm. Fans aggressively retract and extend again for the players.

8:32: Alex Ruoff is in the building. The knee looks to be much better. He’s taking the stairs with no trouble.

8:45: Check out the bow ties on Erik Martin and Larry Harrison tonight: prostate cancer awareness for the Black Coaches Association.

8:51: Internet is shaky tonight. Just a heads up. Do text me if the comments are suddenly disabled.

8:52: More fashion: Fella on Marquette’s bench stole one of JackBo’s sweaters tonight. Also, it’s JB’s birthday. Happy 46th, sit.

8:59: Hmm, Browne was in the starting five earlier. Also, probably should have included Marquette’s Jae Crowder as a challenger for KJ and Big East Player of the Year. Crowder has been very good lately and can’t wait to play Jones.

9:01: Buzz with a really nice three-piece suit. I hope he sheds the jacket. It is a little warm in here tonight.

9:04: Tendency breaker there to start the game. Deniz and KJ go high post, ball goes to Deniz and he bounces to Truck on a backcut. Two free throws for a 2-0 lead. And quickly, Todd Mayo has two fouls after he commits an offensive foul at 19:30.

9:05: Three team fouls 59 seconds in for the Golden Eagles, hereafter referred to as the Eagles.

9:07: Earl Walton chews the whistle on a block/charge and Burr jumps in to call a charge on Hinds from 45 feet away.

9:09: Four straight turnovers — two by Hinds, who takes a seat, and one by Browne, who replaced Hinds. Crowder than barrels over Browne and Burr calls a block.

9:10: That might as well have been a turnover. Miles goes triple-threat and missed everything a running hook. Marquette charges on the other end and its seven turnovers and four points.

9:14: OK, 500-pound gorilla time, but I didn’t want to mention this until I knew better but Johnson-Odom, Vander Blue and Junior Cadougan were all suspended for the first half … and I still have no idea why. Obviously, key development and a crucial 20 minutes for WVU.

9:17: Miles and Brown both get in early and Marquette is risking serious foul trouble here with three regulars on the bench.

9:19: Browne misses two FTs, Crowder ties the game 9-9 with a 3 and Browne rebounds a wild miss by Truck with an offensive rebound and a layup.

9:20: Jamil Wilson, he of about six minutes per game in Big East play, has six points. They needed someone to do something like that this half.

9:23: Notre Dame started the first half 8-for-11 and the second half 9-for-12. Marquette is 5-for-7.

9:37: And we’re back with WVU ahead 22-15, but now with KJ on the bench with two fouls. Coliseum just did a cool thing and showed Da’Sean’s Marquette buzzer-beater in 2010 … and then showed Butler live in the bleachers. Fandemonium.

9:39: Truck 3 gives him 12 points and WVU a 25-17 lead. Danger zone here for Marquette with 3:38 to go before the half.

9:41: Da’Sean now has eight people surrounding him and he’ll signing autographs for all of them. Wonderful guy …

9:42: If I’m Huggins, I think about putting KJ back in. I feel like you want a big cushion here to get ahead as much as you can before Johnson-Odom, Cadougan and Blue come back. Maybe KJ scores, maybe not, but he’s not going to kill you with errors. And he’s smart enough not to do something reckless and get a third foul. Just a thought, at least for a possession or two. Huggins has a timeout to use, too, for an offense-defense maneuver.

9:43: Never mind, Truck bags another 3 … and then Marquette turns it over to Brown, who is mugged to no call. Marquette then throws a dumb alley-oop and turns it over down nine with a 2-on-1 break. Brown and Truck also chased the Eagles out of the 2-3.

9:45: Huggins needed a timeout there and lit up the officials and KJ remained on the bench. Eight seconds on the shot clock and Kilicli is fouled a step inside the free throw line. Bad play there and the bailed-out Kilicli makes both free throws to make it 30-19. I can’t believe they’re up 11.

9:48: Brown’s been OK, but just grab the ball and you get another 35 seconds. He tries to dribble it up to his person, loses it and commits a foul. The Other Wilson misses the front of a 1-and-1, though.

9:49: You probably saw KJ pat Hinds on the posterior there, but you should see him on the bench. Well, on his feet. He’s going as hard on the sideline as he does in the game.

9:51: Hey, did what you had to do there. Didn’t shoot it well (12-29, 3-10), didn’t hold onto the ball very well (nine turnovers) and didn’t get a lot out of the PotY (seven points, one rebound, two fouls for KJ) but you’re up 11 on No. 10 at home in a game you have to have and you took advantage of a compromised opponent. Could be worse.

10:03: WVU did rebound it well and has a 22-11 edge, which is significant when the teams missed a combined 28 shots. The Eagles have no offensive rebounds. WVU has eight and eight second-chance points.

10:11: Well, KJ gets No. 3 right away, but never fear: Truck hits his fourth 3 and gets his 18th point. In the previous 11 games, he had more points and 3s just twice.

10:13: Can’t turn it over like this. That’s how a 15-point lead just vanishes.

10:15: Dodged a bullet there. DJ-O doinks a dunk and dare I say WVU needed the television timeout, even if it’s still up 37-28.

10:18: Deniz is struggling and Huggins has Nique and KJ with three fouls, so here goes the matchup zone …

10:18: … offensive rebound. Layup.

10:20: Bob Reynolds was honored in a timeout in the first half for supporting the basketball practice facility. He just gave up his front-row seat next to the University president … to Joe Manchin.

10:24: Two seniors making unwise decisions in succession there. Five-point game.

10:25: Kilicli induces and sustains the most contact I’ve ever seen without a whistle and scored. That was actually ridiculous. Someone fouled someone else there.

10:26: Hinds is 0-for-4 tonight. Since his 8-for-12, 17-point game at home against Notre Dame, he’s 6-for-30 with 15 points. That’s three-plus games.

10:29: Marquette has 13 points this half with two each coming from the semi-suspended guys. Crowder is much better with his sidekicks.

10:29: And Crowder makes a 3. Quick double on KJ on the post and no one is guarding Browne or Brown and Brown misses everything, but KJ scores on the rebound. They needed that … 43-37 now.

10:30: We can agree Nique is not a free-throw shooter. He just made an 18-footer and everyone crashed the boards. Huggins just asked him to take a seat. I think I understand why. Worth mentioning this, too. It’s really, really hard to get back in a game and then hold on and then go ahead on the road. Marquette is playing its tail off and I wonder for how long it lasts…though I wonder the same about WVU, too. A lot of errors and still in the lead.

10:33: Amazing. Browne throws a bizarre pass to Browne, who is kind of stationary near the sideline and doesn’t go to the ball. Blue rips it and misses a layup and Johnson-Odom dunks it … and I’ll tell you they worked on the same thing in the warm-ups. I’m serious. Huggins calls timeout and just eviscerates Brown. Prediction: He’s not coming back in tonight.

10:35: Marquette starts this half 5-for-7, too. And not to pile on here, but WVU is winning a home game it has to have against a top-10 team that has 14 turnovers … which is one fewer than the hosts. That’s your difference right now.

10:37: Zone doesn’t account for Johnson-Odom and he makes a 3 and it’s 45-42 and you’re watching WVU give one away here, much like the Louisville game. Have to be careful here because Marquette looks like an outfit that is obsessed with overcoming everything and winning and WVU looks like a team that’s really worried about losing despite all the advantages.

10:42: Fittingly, WVU loses the lead on a Kilicli turnover 20 feet from the basket and Blue dunks on a runout for the lead.

10:43: Prompt comeback by KJ with a three-point play. If I’m KJ, I might get really selfish here.

10:44: Marquette’s bigs are racing to the basket on offense and Crowder, a big, just won for a layup. He has 23 and has been terrific in this rally. We’re tied 48-48.

10:45: Truck hasn’t scored since 18:36. I have him taking one shot … and that was it a moment ago. Marquette has 11 points off eight WVU turnovers this half.

10:46: Brown returns, to my surprise, but I feel like he’s a better option than Miles because Brown can score and WVU needs points.

10:48: Truck heard me typing, sinks a 3, and WVU is ahead 53-52.

10:50: Here’s that Marquette huddle, per my sources: “OK, Junior, take the ball out past half-court. We’ll spread ’em and you just race past the defense. They can’t stop a straight-line drive.” Result? Junior Cadougan layup and a foul … but Marquette has made and missed seven free-throws tonight.

10:51: That’s your offense the rest of the way. Iso, spread, drive. Blue just did it for another bucket. Here’s Marquette’s 35 points this half: Two 3s, five free throws and 24 points in the paint. Unreal. And WVU is No. 15 in the Big East in field-goal percentage defense.

10:56: Hey, that’s what you want down five: A leaning Browne jumper with 22 seconds on the shot clock. He missed and Marquette is merely settling for jumpers at this point.

10:57: Well, the Eagles missed that jumper and Miles was fouled on the rebound. He banked in the first free throw and missed the second, but Nique scored on the rebound and was fouled … but missed his free throw and couldn’t rebound it.

10:58: Nique fouls out after surrendering the baseline to Crowder on a shot fake late in the shot clock. Probably one of his better games. Deniz has to help here.

10:59: Um, no Deniz and Crowder misses again at the line, but makes the second. It’s 59-56 and the Eagles are 8-for-16 at the foul line.

11:01: Titanic possession here …

11:01: … in that it’s sink or swim and Deniz is isolated atop the key, like before, and throws it away. I’m surprised by that design. The guards couldn’t get it to KJ all game. Why would Deniz? Two free throws on the seventh steal of the half and WVU is down five.

11:03: After 20 seconds, Truck throws himself at the rim and gets two free throws and makes both. It’s 61-58 with 40.8 ticks to play.

11:04: Hilarity in the Coliseum. People are screaming for WVU to foul — including people on press row — and don’t realize WVU does not have to foul. Five-second differential on the clock. Johnson-Odom misses a layup — and you had to know Marquette was going to go at the rim if it had a chance — and Miles scores inside. Now it’s a one-point game with 15 seconds left and Marquette has really struggled at the line. Fine late-game situation for WVU there.

11:06: And Junior Cadougan goes 0-for-2.

11:06: Jeez, Gary Brown. Out of control. He falls and somehow keeps the ball while surrounded by two defenders and gets a timeout. WVU ball, mid-court, 6.6 seconds to do and down just one.

11:08: PHW is in …

11:09: And that was the end, Truck pushing up a one-hander on the move going away from the basket. Huggins wonders if he was fouled, perhaps on the drive, and Walton says no. Marquette steals one, 61-60.