Boise, ID (My Sportsbook) - Kim English scored 15 points in the first half and came off the bench to hit the game-winning free throws with 5.5 seconds left in regulation, as the Missouri Tigers gutted out an 83-79 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles to advance to the Sweet 16.

The third-seeded Tigers (30-6), who hammered Cornell in their first-round matchup, led by as many as 16 points in the first half before watching the lead evaporate in the final 20 minutes.

But the Big 12 Tournament champions survived the comeback bid and will now face second-seeded Memphis in the West Regional semifinal in Glendale, Arizona on Thursday.

"Memphis Tigers, they're a great team," Tigers forward DeMarre Carroll said. "They're a defensive team, kind of like ourselves. So it's going to be a defensive slug match. But hopefully we can turn our defense up another notch, because I don't think anybody in the country plays the way we play.

Leo Lyons netted 18 points for Missouri, which received a 15-point, eight- rebound effort from Carroll.

Marquette (25-10), one-point winners over Utah State on Friday, were led by seniors Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews, who finished with 30 and 24 points, respectively, in the heart-breaking setback.

Fellow senior Dominic James surprisingly came back from a six-game absence after breaking a bone in his left foot on February 25, but the point guard was a non-factor in 17 minutes of action, recording just one assist without attempting a field goal.

"I felt like I played decent," James said. "Obviously I couldn't be as aggressive as I wanted to be, but I think I played solid defensively, but the game was never about me. It was about us, just like it's always been. "

Lazar Hayward logged 13 points and 11 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Eagles, but his violation on an inbounds pass following English's go-ahead free throws gave the ball back to Missouri, as Lyons added the clinching free throws to seal the Tigers' roller-coaster win.

Matthews' six straight points capped a 10-1 spurt and cut Marquette's deficit to 58-56 with 11 minutes to go in regulation.

It stayed a two-possession game the rest of the way with both teams taking turns in the driver's seat. Hayward's three-point play gave the Big East program a 78-74 lead with 1:59 to play.

After J.T. Tiller sank two free throws for Missouri, the Eagles ran the clock down and Jimmy Butler missed a rushed three.

Lyons followed with a three-point play for a 79-78 lead, and McNeal went 1- of-2 from the line to tie the game with 38 seconds remaining.

Coming out of a timeout with 19 seconds left, Tiller came off a hard screen at the right elbow and drove the lane. McNeal sent Tiller to the ground with 5.5 seconds left and the guard needed to be replaced at the free throw line.

Missouri head coach Mike Anderson chose a cold English off the bench, and the freshman buried both attempts for the lead.

"Kim English, he just gave me that look...And sometimes you just have that feeling," Anderson said of choosing which player to shoot the foul shots. "He went up because he shot the ball well. I visited with our coaches and once they said it, I said, 'Okay, we'll put him in there,' and he goes in and he did what he did in the game. He had a phenomenal game today."

After a timeout, Hayward stepped on the baseline while trying to throw the ball in, and Lyons' two freebies ended any hope of last-second heroics for the Eagles.

"We didn't have to have a three, and five and a half seconds, relatively speaking, is not a complete potential bad shot, and I thought that what we had designed would have given us our best chance," Marquette head coach Buzz Williams said of his club's potential possession. "And then they said that Lazar stepped on the line...so then it became their ball. We had to foul immediately, and so that changed the game."

English came off the bench and gave Missouri an immediate spark in the first half, hitting two from downtown to give the Tigers a 22-17 lead at the midway point.

The Eagles went ice cold for the remainder of the half, failing to net a field goal for 12-plus minutes before McNeal buried a three-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded.

Marquette managed to make 16-of-18 from the foul line in the first half to stay close, but still trailed 46-35 after Missouri drained 52.8 percent from the field.

Game Notes

Marquette fell to 34-28 in the NCAA Tournament, while Missouri, which advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002, improved to 20-21...The Tigers broke a school record for wins in one season, set during the 1988-89 campaign...Matt Lawrence scored 16 points for Missouri, while Tiller ended with 10...Dwight Burke pulled down 10 rebounds to go with five points for Marquette, which shot 38.3 percent from the field, compared to the Tigers' 48.4 percent clip.