Musketeers Conclude Three-Game Road Swing with Loss at Seton Hall

Wednesday, February 22

South Orange, N.J.

7 p.m.

Xavier University

18-10 (8-7BE)

Seton Hall

17-10 (7-8BE)

Xavier

Seton Hall

Musketeers Conclude Three-Game Road Swing with Loss at Seton Hall

02.22.17 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

Xavier drops BIG EAST road game, 71-64, on Wednesday night

By: Greg Lautzenheiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

NEWARK, N.J. – Xavier men's basketball ended its three-game BIG EAST road swing with a 71-64 loss at Seton Hall on Wednesday night. The Musketeers have now dropped four straight games.

The Musketeers moved to 18-10 (8-7 BIG EAST), while Pirates improved to 17-10 (7-8 BIG EAST).

NOTABLES

• Trevon Bluiett returned to the starting lineup after missing the team's previous two games with an ankle injury. The junior guard was one of two Xavier players in double figures as he scored 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

• J.P. Macura led the Musketeers with 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting. The junior guard added five rebounds. He now has three, 20-point games on the year.

• Both teams posted 32 rebounds in the contest. Kaiser Gates led Xavier with seven rebounds, while Tyrique Jones had six – all coming in the second half. Jones also scored all eight of his points in the second stanza on 4-for-6 shooting.

• Xavier held a 14-13 advantage in assists with freshman guard Quentin Goodin pacing the Musketeers with a game-high eight assists.

• The game had seven ties and 10 lead changes.

FIRST HALF

• The opening half was back-and-forth as it featured nine lead changes and four ties. Neither team led by more than seven points.

• Seton Hall led 8-7 at the 13:56 mark before the Musketeers outscored the Pirates, 16-8, over the next four minutes to take their largest lead of the game. Seton Hall used an 8-0 run on an Angel Delgado jumper to regain the lead, 25-23, with 6:25 on the clock.

• Neither team led by more than two points in the final six-and-half minutes with the Musketeers taking a 31-30 advantage into the locker room.

• Xavier hit 50 percent (12-for-24) of its shot attempts, while limiting the Pirates to a .360 clip (10-for-28). Seton Hall held a 19-16 advantage on the glass at the break.

• J.P. Macura led the Musketeers with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting, while Trevon Bluiett added seven. Quentin Goodin added four assists, while Kaiser Gates paced Xavier on the glass with seven rebounds.

SECOND HALF

• Xavier opened the second half on a 7-1 run on 3-for-4 shooting to take a 38-32 lead. Trevon Bluiett scored the first five points of the half for the Musketeers.

• Seton Hall responded by scoring six unanswered points to tie the game at 38, the fifth tie of the night. The game was tied two more times over the next two minutes before Seton Hall took a 48-43 advantage at the 13:11 mark.

• Xavier would get within two, three more times down the stretch. The Musketeers trailed, 55-53, with 7:26 before the Pirates used an 8-0 run to take the game's first double-figure lead, 63-53.

• Seton Hall had its largest lead of the game, 69-57, with 40 seconds left in regulation before Xavier responded with a 7-0 run to get within five in the closing seconds. The Pirates held on for the 71-64 win.

UP NEXT

• Xavier returns to action against Butler on Sunday, Feb. 26 at Cintas Center. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. on FS1. The Xavier women's basketball team will play the first of two games at Cintas Center on Sunday with an 11:30 a.m. matchup against Providence.