Kanter, Bluiett Lead No. 11/12 Xavier to 88-82 Win Over St. John's

Wednesday, January 17

Cincinnati, Ohio

8:30 p.m.

Xavier University

17-3, 5-2BE

St. John's

10-9, 0-7BE

St. John's

Xavier

Kanter, Bluiett Lead No. 11/12 Xavier to 88-82 Win Over St. John's

01.17.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)Photos Postgame Notes (PDF)

Coach Mack becomes the winningest coach in school history after recording his 203rd win

By: Isabel Hamilton, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Trevon Bluiett and Kerem Kanter both scored over 20 points each, while leading No. 11/12 Xavier over St. John's on Wednesday night. This marks Xavier's 13th win at home this season where they are also undefeated.

Xavier moved to 17-3 for the season and moved to 5-2 in BIG EAST play while St. John's dropped to 10-9 for the season and 0-7 in BIG EAST play.

FIRST HALF

The Musketeers got on board with a technical free-throw and then back-to-back three pointers by J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett to make the score 9-5 at the first media timeout.
The Red Storm came out of the break strong by holding Xavier scoreless from the 14:33 mark to the 10:59 mark and going on a 5-0 run, but Xavier regained the lead by going on a 12-8 run to make the score 33-30 at the 3:55 mark. Kerem Kanter scored the first five points of the run for the Musketeers.
The Musketeers outscored the Red Storm, 9-4, to end the half with a lead of 42-34.
Trevon Bluiett led Xavier with 13 points and five rebounds, while Kerem Kanter scored nine points and pulled down five rebounds.
The Musketeers out-rebounded the Red Storm 22-12 and 17 of their rebounds came on the defensive side of the ball.
Xavier shot 44.8 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from behind the arc while holding St. John's to 42.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the arc.

SECOND HALF

The Red Storm came out strong to start off the half by making their first 11 field goals and outscoring the Musketeers, 27-20, to pull within one at the 10:36 mark. J.P. Macura scored eight of the Musketeers 20 points during the first part of the half.
Both teams went basket for basket for the next three minutes, but St. John's outscored Xavier 6-4 to own an advantage of 67-66 at the 7:05 mark.
Xavier went on a 7-0 run sparked by a dunk and a three-pointer by Kaiser Gates to regain a lead of 73-67, which prompted St. John's to call a timeout at the 5:12 mark.
The Musketeers and the Red Storm each scored 15 points in the remaining five minutes of the game with Xavier winning the game, 88-82.
Three players scored in double figures during the half with Kerem Kanter scoring 13 points, J.P. Macura scoring 12 points and Trevon Bluiett scoring 10 points. Kanter also recorded eight rebounds during the half.
Xavier's largest lead of the game came at the 2:57 mark where they led by 12 points.

NOTABLES

Coach Mack became the all-time winningest coach in Xavier history by recording his 203rd career win. He surpassed Pete Gillen on the all-time wins list.
Trevon Bluiett finished the game as the leading scorer with 23 points and six rebounds. This was his 12th game of the season scoring 20 points or more.
Kerem Kanter recorded a double-double by scoring 22 points and recording 13 rebounds. He has averaged 18.5 points per game in the last four games.
Xavier shot 54.4 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from behind the arc and they held St. John's to 50.0 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from behind the line.
Xavier out-rebounded St. John's, 39-21, with Kanter grabbing 13 rebounds, followed by Bluiett and Quentin Goodin recording six rebounds each.
The Musketeers recorded 23 assists on 31 field goals made, with Goodin leading the team with seven assists.