Bluiett's 24 Points Lead No. 5 Xavier to 90-72 Win Over Marquette

Thursday, March 10

New York, N.Y.

7 P.M.

Xavier University

27-4

Marquette University

20-13

Marquette

Xavier

Bluiett's 24 Points Lead No. 5 Xavier to 90-72 Win Over Marquette

03.10.16 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Musketeers move on to face Seton Hall in BIG EAST Tournament Semifinal on Friday

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

NEW YORK – A career day for Trevon Bluiett led the No. 5 Xavier Musketeers to a comfortable victory over Marquette in the BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday. The 24-point performance for Bluiett led five players in double-figures as the No. 2 seeded Musketeers took the 90-72 win over the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles, moving Xavier to 27-4 on the season.

Bluiett's 24 points matched his career high, set earlier this season against DePaul, and is a new record for a Musketeer player in BIG EAST Tournament play. Bluiett finished shooting 64.3 from the field, including hitting on 5-of-8 from three.

James Farr and J.P. Macura each finished with 12 points and Jalen Reynolds added 11.

Edmond Sumner scored 10, including going 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Sumner also dished out seven assists.

Two early fouls on MU's Henry Ellenson gave Xavier an early advantage in the paint, with eight points down low helping to fuel an early 9-0 run, giving the Musketeers an 11-2 lead and forcing Marquette to call a time out.

Four quick points for James Farr helped push the Xavier lead out to as many as 11, 15-4, in the first five minutes of the game.

MU opened the game 1-of-6 from the floor, but connected on four of its next five field goals to cut the Xavier advantage down to six, 19-13, with just under 12 minutes to play.

Three straight buckets for the Golden Eagles cut the XU lead to five, 26-21, with eight minutes to play. The Musketeers responded with a 13-0 run, taking a 43-25 lead into the final two minutes of the half.

A pair of Marquette buckets cut the lead to 13 before a Macura three in the closing seconds set the halftime score at 46-30 in favor of the Musketeers.
Bluiett's 12 points, on 5-of-7 shooting, led the Musketeers before the break.

Xavier shot nearly 60 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes to 34 percent for MU, outscoring the Golden Eagles 24-12 in the paint.

Xavier owned a 20-15 advantage on the boards in the first half, led by five for Myles Davis.

The Musketeers opened the second half with a 10-3 run to take a 23 point lead, 56-33, less than four minutes into the period.

After going up by 10, XU outscored Marquette 11-4 over the next three minutes to extend the lead out to 28, 57-35, with 15 minutes to play.

Xavier held a lead of 20 or more until the 8:32 mark when the Golden Eagles climbed to within 19, 74-55.

In the closing minutes, Marquette would get as close as 17 before the Musketeers re-extended the lead out to 21 before winning by 18, 90-72.
Xavier finished shooting 53 percent from the field, including hitting 11-of-26 from outside the arc, while holding the Golden Eagles to 38.1 percent from the floor, including only 3-of-18 from three.

The Musketeers won the battle of the boards, 43-31, led by six each for Reynolds and Davis.

Xavier continues play on Friday in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals at Madison Square Garden, facing off with the No. 3 seeded Seton Hall Pirates who defeated the No. 6 seed Creighton Bluejays on Thursday night. The semifinal contest is scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.

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