Xavier Closes out Maui Jim Maui Invitational with 83-74 win over Illinois

Wednesday, November 21

Maui, Hawaii

9 p.m.

Xavier University

3-3

Illinois

1-4

Xavier

Illinois

Xavier Closes out Maui Jim Maui Invitational with 83-74 win over Illinois

11.21.18 | Men's Basketball

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

Elias Harden and Keonte Kennedy score career highs to help Musketeers pull away from Illini

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

MAUI – Xavier men's basketball used a balanced effort in the second half to pull away from the University of Illinois in its closing game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. After trading leads for much of the first half, Xavier pulled away midway through the second, leading by as many as 16 before winning by nine, 83-74.

Eight Musketeers scored, including four who hit double figures, led by 15 for Quentin Goodin. Two Musketeers, Elias Harden and Keonte Kennedy, set career-highs to help Xavier pick up the win.

FIRST HALF

Xavier jumped out to a 4-0 lead, extending it to five, 8-3 with four points each from Paul Scruggs and Quentin Goodin.
Xavier held on to its advantage, leading, 12-7, six minutes into the game, before the Illini scored seven straight to take the lead, 14-12, two minutes later.
The Musketeers trailed by as many as five, 19-14, in the first 10 minutes of the game before a 11-5 swing, with eight points from Naji Marshall, put Xavier back ahead by four.
The two teams exchanged the lead six times over the next six minutes, with neither team taking a lead of more than one possession until a three-point play from Kyle Castlin in the final 30 seconds put Xavier ahead four, 43-39. The Illini hit a bucket just before the bucket to set the halftime score at 43-41 in favor of Xavier.
Marshall led Xavier with 10 points and Goodin finished the half with nine.
Xavier shot 68 percent from the floor, hitting on 17-of-25 compared to Illinois' 13-of-25.
Xavier outscored the Illini, 22-6, in the paint, and held a 12-9 advantage on the boards, led by four for Paul Scruggs.
The Musketeers hit 3-of-6 from outside, while UI hit 6-of-11 from three.

SECOND HALF

Xavier and Illinois exchanged the lead four more times to open the second half before back to back baskets pushed Xavier's lead back out to five, 57-52.
The Musketeers continued to build on its lead with a 11-2 run, going ahead by as many as 12, 68-56, with just under 10 minutes remaining.
During that run to build the lead out to double digits, Elias Harden connect on 3-of-3 three pointers to match his career high set yesterday in the second half.
A 7-0 run by the Musketeers extended Xavier's lead to 16, 75-59, with six minutes to play. That would match Xavier's largest lead of the game, also leading by 16, 79-63, with 4:28 remaining. After leading by 16, Illinois scored six straight to cut the lead down to 10, 79-69, with under a minute to play.
A pair of Naji Marshall free throws and Quentin Goodin dunk off set five points by the Illini in the final minute to set the final score at 83-74.
Harden's nine points led the Musketeers in the second half, and Tyrique Jones added eight on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.
Xavier owned a 25-16 advantage on the boards in the second half. X's advantage on the offensive boards was 8-5, but the Musketeers made the most of their opportunities, outscoring the Illini, 14-6, on second chance points.

NOTABLES

Quentin Goodin finished with 15 points to lead the Musketeers.
Elias Harden upped his career-high set yesterday, finishing with 14 points after going 4-of-4 from three.
Naji Marshall added 13 points and Paul Scruggs scored 10.
Zach Hankins went 4-of-4 from the floor, finishing with nine points.
Keonte Kennedy set a new career-best mark of eight, after connecting on 3-of-5 shots, including a pair of threes.
Xavier finished the game shooting 57.4 from the floor and 40 percent from three. The Musketeers owned a 36-20 advantage on points in the paint.
Tyrique Jones grabbed a team-high nine boards as Xavier owned a 37-25 advantage on rebounds.

UP NEXT

Xavier returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 6:30 p.m. when the Musketeers host Miami (Ohio) at Cintas Center. The game will be televised on FS1.

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