Anaheim, CA -- (Sports Network) - Jerel McNeal's 20 points and five rebounds paced the Marquette Golden Eagles to an exciting 74-66 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats in first round action of the NCAA Tournament's South Region.

Marquette (25-9) also received a big spark from Lazar Hayward, who tallied 16 points and seven rebounds. Dominic James and Wesley Matthews combined to hit 17-of-20 from the charity stripe to account for 15 and 13 points, respectively. Sixth-seeded Marquette will square off against third-seeded Stanford on Saturday for the right to advance into the Sweet 16. The Cardinal pounded Cornell, 77-53, in the their first-round matchup.

Kentucky (18-13) hadn't lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 1987, when the Wildcats fell to Ohio State, 91-77. Joe Crawford was terrific in defeat, pouring in 35 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Ramel Bradley dropped in 19 points, while Perry Stevenson added 10 in a losing effort.

Marquette and Kentucky are very familiar with each other in the NCAA Tournament, as their 10 meetings mark the most among any two programs in the history of the postseason tournament. The Eagles now hold a 6-4 edge in the showdowns.

"Another Marquette/Kentucky game with two teams that respect each other, two coaching staffs that respect each other, and a group of players on both sides of the fence that have the ability, toughness, passion and endurance," Marquette coach Tom Crean said.

Marquette's Ousmane Barro opened the game's scoring with a bucket, but Bradley and Crawford responded for the Wildcats by scoring 10 of the game's next 14 points to give Kentucky an early 10-6 lead.

Marquette then took advantage of Kentucky's lack of a big man in post. With Wildcats' forward Patrick Patterson out with a foot injury, the Eagles often scored on offensive rebounds and in the paint while driving ahead, 17-12 midway through the period.

Both squads experienced long droughts in the following minutes. The 'Cats hit just one field goal during an eight-minute stretch, while the Eagles failed to connect on a field goal for almost five minutes.

With the Golden Eagles leading by one on the last possession of the half, Hayward drilled a three from the corner to give Marquette a 33-29 lead at the break.

After intermission, the back-and-forth affair continued, but this time with a little more offense. Crawford put the Wildcats ahead 34-33 early in the second stanza with a layup. Unfortunately for the UK faithful, it would prove to be their last lead of the game.

An empathic dunk by Hayward at the 15-minute mark seemed to switch the momentum in favor of the Eagles, as they continued to pound the ball inside and get easy baskets.

Marquette took its biggest lead, 54-43, at the halfway point with a terrific inside-outside shooting display. Each time Kentucky cut into the lead, the Golden Eagles had an answer.

During one exchange, UK's Stevenson threw down a dunk to make it a three-point game. On the next possession, James had an answer by drilling a three and stopping Kentucky's momentum.

Down the stretch, Crawford single-handedly made it interesting by hitting twice from behind the arc. His three-pointer with under a minute remaining made it a one-possession contest.

Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie complimented Crawford on his shooting.

"He's done that ever since Patrick [Patterson] went down, he and Ramel both," Gillispie said. "But the numbers looked like that, I think they had 54 points today, is that right, 54 out of 66, which is not good for our team.

Marquette didn't relinquish the lead, however, as Matthews made all eight of his attempts from the charity stripe to secure the win.

"No. I mean it was just a matter of going up there and making them," Matthews said when asked if there was any chance he would miss those attempts. "I mean, they're shots that we take all the time, shots that we practice, shots that you [have] been taking since you started playing this game."

Game Notes

The last time Marquette won an NCAA Tournament game was 2003, when it defeated Kentucky in the Regional Final...Kentucky is now 98-44 in the NCAA Tournament...Marquette managed a 34-26 edge on the glass...The Golden Eagles drained 23-of-29 from the free throw line, while the Wildcats hit 12-of-17 from the stripe...Marquette had 20 points off turnovers compared to Kentucky's six.