No. 10 Xavier Falls at No. 1 Villanova

Wednesday, January 10

Philadelphia, Penn.

8 p.m.

Xavier University

15-3, 3-2BE

Villanova

15-1, 3-1BE

Xavier

Villanova

01.10.18 | Men's Basketball

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

Kerem Kanter leads Musketeers with 16 points and 5 boards

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

PHILADELPHIA – No. 10 Xavier dropped a tough road test on Wednesday, falling 89-65 to No. 1 Villanova at Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats took control of the game early and steadily built the lead on the Musketeers, moving Xavier to 15-3 overall and 3-2 in BIG EAST play. Kerem Kanter led three Musketeers in double figures.

FIRST HALF

Villanova took the early 6-0 lead on a pair of threes. The Wildcats led by as many as 13, 22-9, in the first 10 minutes.
Xavier responded with an 8-0 run to cut the VU advantage to five, 22-17, with 8:28 remaining before halftime. The Musketeers held the Wildcats scoreless for over four minutes during that stretch.
Back-to-back baskets for Villanova pushed the lead back to nine. Xavier would get as close as six, 27-21, with 5:51 to play.
VU used an 8-2 lead to take its largest lead of the half at 13, 38-25, before a three from Trevon Bluiett and a pair of Wildcat free throws set the halftime score at 40-12 in favor of Villanova.
Seven Musketeers scored in the first half in a balanced effort. Paul Scruggs led with six points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor, hitting all three two-point field goals he attempted.
Kerem Kanter and Bluiett each added five.
Xavier connected on 34.4 percent of its shots from the floor while VU hit 48.3 from the floor.
Xavier owned a 21-15 advantage on the boards, led by four for Sean O'Mara. Xavier' had an 8-2 advantage on offensive boards, but only scored three second-chance points in the first 20 minutes.

SECOND HALF

A Jones basket to start the half cut the lead to 10, 40-30, but VU outscore Xavier 12-5 over the next three minutes to push its lead out to 17.
Villanova led by as many as 21, 57-36, in the first five minutes of the second half.
Kerem Kanter scored seven points in the first 10 minutes of the second half to cut the advantage to 15 going into the final 10 minutes, but five-straight points for VU extended the deficit back to 20.
VU maintained the 17- to 20-point lead until an 11-0 run for the Wildcats pushed the Xavier deficit to 28, the largest of the game, in the final four minutes of the game.
Xavier fell by a final score of 89-65.
Naji Marshall scored 13 in the second half, hitting 4-of-5 on field goals and 5-of-5 from the line.
Kerem Kanter scored 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor in the second half.
Xavier shot 50 percent from the floor but VU connected on 62 percent of its second half shots, including 43 percent from behind the arc.
VU outrebounded Xavier 16-13 after the break. Quentin Goodin grabbed three rebounds to lead the Musketeers after the break.

NOTABLES

Three Musketeers finished in double figures, led by Kerem Kanter's 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor.
Naji Marshall scored 13 points, all coming in the second half. The 13-point mark is Marshall's highest point total since scoring a career-high 15 against ETSU.
Trevon Bluiett finished with 11 points.
Xavier owned a narrow advantage on the boards for the game, 34-31, led by five for Kanter.
The Musketeers held an 11-5 advantage on offensive boards but was outscored, 6-5, on second-chance points.
Xavier committed 15 turnovers leading to 18 points for the Wildcats, while only forcing eight VU miscues for six points.