Career High for J.P. Macura Leads Xavier to NCAA First Round Win over Texas Southern

Friday, March 16

Nashville, Tenn.

7:45 p.m.

Xavier University

29-5

102

Texas Southern

16-20

Texas Southern

Xavier

102

Career High for J.P. Macura Leads Xavier to NCAA First Round Win over Texas Southern

03.16.18 | Men's Basketball

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Three Musketeers finished with 20 points; Xavier will meet No. 9 seed Florida State

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

NASHVILLE – Senior J.P. Macura used a career performance to lead the No. 1 seeded Xavier Musketeers to a win over No. 16 seed Texas Southern in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Macura's 29 points led three Musketeers with 20-point performances as the Musketeers topped the Tigers 102-83 to move to 29-5 on the season and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Sunday, March 18, against No. 9 seed Florida State. The game will tip at approximately 8:40 p.m. ET.

FIRST HALF

After Xavier opened the game with a Trevon Bluiett three, Texas Southern scored four straight to take a brief 4-3 lead.
A pair of outside shots help fueled a 10-0 Xavier run to put the Musketeers up 13-4 less than five minutes into the game. Xavier connected on its first three looks from outside.
TSU responded with an 16-0 run of its own to take a 20-13 lead with 12 minutes before halftime.
Twelve points from J.P. Macura helped Xavier erase the deficit with a 16-0 run, to retake a nine-point lead, 29-20, with eight minutes remaining in the first half. Xavier went 6-of-7 from the floor during that stretch.
After falling behind by seven, Xavier outscored Texas State 36-9 over the next 10 minutes to lead by 20, 49-29. Texas State closed the half on an 8-0 run over the last 1:10 to cut the Xavier lead to 49-37 at the break.
J.P. Macura led the Musketeers with 18 points, going 7-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
Trevon Bluiett added 17 for the Musketeers.
Xavier owned a 21-13 advantage on the boards, led by five for Naji Marshall.
Xavier shot 56 percent from the floor, including hitting 9-of-15 from behind the arc, while TSU shot 41 percent.

SECOND HALF

After Kerem Kanter scored to open the second half, TSU cut the lead to 12, 51-39, the closest the Tigers would get for the remainder of the game.
Six points from J.P. Macura helped Xavier outscore TSU 12-5 over the next three minutes to extend its lead back out to 19, 63-44, with 16:25 remaining.
Xavier extended its lead out to 21, 77-66, with 10:15 remaining. Five straight points for Texas Southern would cut the lead to 16, 77-61.
Nine points for Kerem Kanter helped the Musketeers outscore the Tigers 10-4 over the next 2:31 to push the lead out to 24, 89-65, the largest lead of the game for the Musketeers with just over five minutes remaining.
The Tigers would get as close as 17, 94-77, in the final five minutes.
Kerem Kanter led the Musketeers with 20 points in the second half, shooting 9-of-10 from the floor. Macura added 11 after the break.
Xavier shot 53 percent from the floor in the second half.
Kanter also led the Musketeers with five rebounds as Xavier outrebounded the Tigers 21-18 after the break.
TSU owned a 7-6 advantage on the offensive glass, but Xavier owned a 13-6 advantage on second chance points.

NOTABLES

J.P. Macura set a new career high with 29 points, going 11-of-16 from the floor. This tops his previous career high of 28 set against Clemson in November 2016.
Trevon Bluiett finished with 26 points. The senior connected three three-pointers to bring his season total to 104, tying Lenny Brown's single-season record from the 1998-99 season.
Kerem Kanter matched his career high with 24 points. He also scored 24 points at Providence earlier this season.
Macura and Naji Marshall each grabbed six rebounds as Xavier outrebound the Tigers, 42-31.
The Musketeers owned a narrow 10-9 advantage on the offensive glass but turned that in to 15 points to just six second-chance points for the Tigers.
Xavier's 102 points are the most for the Musketeers in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.

UP NEXT

Xavier moves on to the NCAA Tournament Second Round, where the Musketeers will face No. 9 Florida State. The game will follow the game to be played at Bridgestone Arena at 6:10 p.m. ET, approximately 8:40 p.m. ET, and will be aired on TNT.

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