Saturday, January 13
Cincinnati, Ohio
1:00 PM
Creighton University
14-4, 4-2BE
70
at
92
Xavier
16-3, 4-2BE
1
2
F
Creighton
34
36
70
Xavier
50
42
92
Ronnie Harrell Jr.
Photo by: Mark Burch
No. 10 Xavier Too Much For No. 25 Men's Basketball
1/13/2018 3:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Musketeers too much for Bluejays in top-25 showdown
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- No. 10 Xavier knocked No. 25 Creighton from atop the BIG EAST standings with a 92-70 victory over the Bluejays on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.
Xavier improved to 16-3 on the season, snapping a two-game losing skid. Creighton's four-game win streak came to a halt, dropping the Bluejays to 14-4. Both teams are 4-2 in BIG EAST play, one-half game behind Seton Hall (4-1) in the league standings. Creighton will host the Pirates on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at CenturyLink Center Omaha, in a game that will air on FS1 and 1620 AM.
Xavier used a 9-0 run in the opening minutes to move ahead 15-7 and would not trail again. The Musketeers scored 20 points in the final 6:55 of the half to open up a 50-34 lead at intermission. The Bluejays got a healthy contribution from its bench in the first half, as Ronnie Harrell Jr.'s 11 points led a reserve corps that scored 19 of CU's initial 34 points.
Kaiser Gates came off the bench for the first time all season and starred in the first half with 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Musketeers in both categories. XU dished 14 assists on 18 baskets, shooting 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from three-point range, and also outscored CU 18-10 in the paint in the opening 20 minutes.
Just as he did to open the first half, Foster had Creighton's first seven points of the second half to cut the Musketeer lead to 13 (56-43) by the first media timeout. But reserve center Sean O'Mara scored seven consecutive points in a 73 second span to balloon the lead to 20 (63-43), much to the delight of the sold out Cintas Center crowd. Xavier's lead swelled as large as 68-43 before Tyler Clement's traditional three-point play snapped the 12-0 Musketeer surge.
Freshman Mitch Ballock then went to work for CU, draining three consecutive three-pointers to force a Xavier timeout with XU's lead down to 76-57. The comeback turned into a 16-3 run on a bucket from Tyler Clement that trimmed XU's deficit to 76-62. The Musketeers answered with a 9-0 run to pull away late.
Foster and Ballock led Creighton with 16 points, while Harrell (13) also scored in double-digits.Creighton shot 40.7 percent on the day, including 10-of-27 from downtown, and drained 12-of-15 free throws. Creighton got 46 points from its reserves and led for a season-low 51 seconds.
Xavier got 24 points from Trevon Bluiett and 16 from Gates as six different Xavier players scored in double-figures. The Musketeers shot 47.9 percent for the game (34-71), including 45.8 percent from deep (11-24), and also won the rebound battle 39-34. Xavier had 22 assists for the game and also owned 11 steals.
The win was the 202nd for Chris Mack at Xavier, tying the school record held by Pete Gillen.
Xavier improved to 16-3 on the season, snapping a two-game losing skid. Creighton's four-game win streak came to a halt, dropping the Bluejays to 14-4. Both teams are 4-2 in BIG EAST play, one-half game behind Seton Hall (4-1) in the league standings. Creighton will host the Pirates on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at CenturyLink Center Omaha, in a game that will air on FS1 and 1620 AM.
Xavier used a 9-0 run in the opening minutes to move ahead 15-7 and would not trail again. The Musketeers scored 20 points in the final 6:55 of the half to open up a 50-34 lead at intermission. The Bluejays got a healthy contribution from its bench in the first half, as Ronnie Harrell Jr.'s 11 points led a reserve corps that scored 19 of CU's initial 34 points.
Kaiser Gates came off the bench for the first time all season and starred in the first half with 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Musketeers in both categories. XU dished 14 assists on 18 baskets, shooting 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from three-point range, and also outscored CU 18-10 in the paint in the opening 20 minutes.
Just as he did to open the first half, Foster had Creighton's first seven points of the second half to cut the Musketeer lead to 13 (56-43) by the first media timeout. But reserve center Sean O'Mara scored seven consecutive points in a 73 second span to balloon the lead to 20 (63-43), much to the delight of the sold out Cintas Center crowd. Xavier's lead swelled as large as 68-43 before Tyler Clement's traditional three-point play snapped the 12-0 Musketeer surge.
Freshman Mitch Ballock then went to work for CU, draining three consecutive three-pointers to force a Xavier timeout with XU's lead down to 76-57. The comeback turned into a 16-3 run on a bucket from Tyler Clement that trimmed XU's deficit to 76-62. The Musketeers answered with a 9-0 run to pull away late.
Foster and Ballock led Creighton with 16 points, while Harrell (13) also scored in double-digits.Creighton shot 40.7 percent on the day, including 10-of-27 from downtown, and drained 12-of-15 free throws. Creighton got 46 points from its reserves and led for a season-low 51 seconds.
Xavier got 24 points from Trevon Bluiett and 16 from Gates as six different Xavier players scored in double-figures. The Musketeers shot 47.9 percent for the game (34-71), including 45.8 percent from deep (11-24), and also won the rebound battle 39-34. Xavier had 22 assists for the game and also owned 11 steals.
The win was the 202nd for Chris Mack at Xavier, tying the school record held by Pete Gillen.
Team Stats
CU
XU
FG%
.407
.479
3FG%
.370
.458
FT%
.800
.722
RB
34
39
TO
20
11
STL
7
11
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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