No. 11 Xavier Downs UNI to Win Tire Pros Invitational

Sunday, November 20

Orlando, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

Xavier University

5-0

Northern Iowa

3-1

Xavier

Northern Iowa

No. 11 Xavier Downs UNI to Win Tire Pros Invitational

11.20.16 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)All-Tournament Team Post Game Quotes

Trevon Bluiett enters the 1,000-Point Club, named Tournament MVP

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - For a second-straight season, Xavier men's basketball returns home from Orlando with a championship trophy after topping Northern Iowa, 67-59, in the championship game of the Tire Pros Invitational at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on Sunday evening.

Three Musketeers hit double figures as No. 11 Xavier moved to 5-0 on the season.

NOTABLE

After entering the game with 992 career points, Trevon Bluiett entered the Xavier 1,000-point club at the 9:20 mark in the first half. Bluiett's career point-total stands at 1,013.

Bluiett finished with a game-high 21 points and led the Musketeers with eight boards, earning the MVP award for the Tire Pros Invitational, as well as a spot on the All-Tournament team. Bluiett averaged over 18 points and

J.P. Macura was also named to the Tire Pros Invitational All-Tournament Team. He finished Sunday's game with 10 points to average 19 points per game for the tournament.

Edmond Sumner was the third Musketeer to hit double figures against UNI, scoring 17 against the Panthers. Sumner earned All-Tournament Honorable Mention.

The Tire Pros Invitational championship is the fourth regular season tournament championship for the Musketeers in 10 years, including the Advocare Invitational, played last season on the same floor, and the 2008 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

The Musketeers shot 51 percent from the floor on shots inside the three-point arc, owning a 28-16 advantage on points in the paint.

Xavier won the overall battle of the boards, 37-33 after grabbing 12 offensive boards for eight second-chance points.

FIRST HALF

Bluiett led the Musketeers early on, scoring the first seven points for XU to open the game, keeping the Musketeers within striking distance as Northern Iowa controlled the game early.

UNI lead by as many as nine, 19-10 in the first 10 minutes of the game, before the Musketeers found their offensive rhythm, but a Macura three started a 16-3 run to put Xavier ahead 26-22 with under five minutes remaining before halftime.

The Panther's battled back to take a two-point lead into the final minute of the half, but in the closing seconds of the first period, Sumner found his way to the line, hitting a pair of free throws to send the two teams into the break tied, 30-30.

Bluiett had 12 first half points to lead the Musketeers. Sumner and Macura each added six.

Xavier out-rebounded Northern Iowa 19-14 in the first half thanks to grabbing eight offensive board to two for the Panthers to outscore UNI 6-0 on second chance points.

SECOND HALF

Xavier extended the run from the end of the first half to a 9-3 run to open the second, pushing out to a multiple-possession lead for the first time in the game less than a minute into the second half.

UNI would get as close as one, 35-34, before the Musketeers used a 12-0 run to extend the lead out to 13 with 13 minutes to play.

Xavier pushed the lead out to as many as 16 during the first 10 minutes of the second half, holding the Panthers without a field goal for over nine minutes.

The Musketeers maintained a double-digit lead until the final two minutes of the game, when UNI cut the lead down to five, 58-53, after an 11-2 run over a six-minute period.

Going into the final minute, Xavier led 58-53 but the Musketeers closed out the game going 9-of-11 at the free throw line to secure the 67-59 win.

Sumner led the Musketeers with 11 second-half points.

QUOTABLE

Chris Mack - "I thought we played the hardest-playing, most-disciplined team, most well-coached team that we could have faced in the tournament. We've got a lot of respect for everybody in this tournament but Northern Iowa, they're relentless in their approach. Whether it's the discipline blocking out, whether it's a never-say-quit attitude, Northern Iowa really made us play all the way to the end.

"I'd like to have those last four or five minutes back but it's so early. We're a little bit better in terms of finishing the game but we still have a ways to go in that department. We're probably no different than a lot of teams in college basketball. We made our free throws when we final got in the bonus in the second half. That was the difference being able to keep it a two-, three-possession game."

"Number one, we beat three teams that will help our resume down the stretch. It shows our guys we're going to be in a position playing hopefully three games in three days in a few months. We can look back and hopefully use this as an experience that helped us quickly turn the page, prepare for a different style and be ready to play the next night.
"I thought our effort on the defensive end was phenomenal. Even when we had our struggles down the stretch it didn't diminish our effort, our intensity, our talk off the ball defensively.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier returns to action with a familiar foe on Saturday, Nov. 26 when the Musketeers play host to this Northern Iowa squad. The Musketeers and the Panthers face off at noon at Cintas Center on a Fox Sports network to be announced.

The scheduling oddity marks the eighth time in XU history the Musketeers have played back-to-back games against the same non-conference team. The last time it occurred was in 1960, when the Musketeers faced Yale in the Motor City Classic, then hosted the Bulldogs at Schmidt Fieldhouse three days later.