Men's Basketball Scorches Nets in Rout of Eastern Kentucky

Saturday, December 15

Cincinnati, Ohio

8 p.m.

Xavier University

Eastern Kentucky

Men's Basketball Scorches Nets in Rout of Eastern Kentucky

12.15.18 | Men's Basketball

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Musketeers connected on 71.4 percent from the floor, an NCAA-best mark for the season so far

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier men's basketball used one of the hottest shooting performances in program history to pull away from Eastern Kentucky, 95-77, on Saturday evening at Cintas Center. The Musketeers pulled away late in the first half, then connected on 77 percent of its shots in the second to put the Colonels away.

Six Musketeers scored in double figures as Xavier shot over 71 percent from the floor, the best shooting performance by an NCAA Division I school so far this year.

FIRST HALF

EKU opened up with a 5-0 lead with a pair of baskets to open the game.
The Colonels held a 7-2 lead when Xavier answered with a 6-0 run of its own to take the lead, 8-7, less than three minutes into the game.
Tyrique Jones led Xavier with eight points in the first 10 minutes of the game, going 3-of-3 from the floor.
EKU led by as many as seven, 23-16, before back-to-back steals by Quentin Goodin led to a 4-0 run for Xavier to cut the EKU led to three, 23-20.
A pair of free throws for Xavier cut the EKU lead to one before two more steals by Goodin and Naji Marshall, led to fast-break points to put Xavier ahead.
Xavier outscored EKU 15-2 over that stretch to lead by as many as six, 31-25, with five minutes left in the first half.
The Musketeers continued to build the lead, with 11-straight points for Zach Hankins to break the lead open at 42-28 with two minutes left in the half.
EKU scored five straight to get the lead back to single digits, 42-33, but a three for Goodin and a basket at the buzzer for Marshall put the back at 14 going into the break, matching the largest lead of the half for either team.
Hankins led Xavier with 12 points 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Xavier built its advantage by scoring 16 points on 12 EKU turnovers, and shooting 67 percent from the floor, while EKU connected on 39.4 percent of its looks from the floor.
Marshall grabbed six rebounds to lead Xavier as they owned a 19-17 advantage on boards.

SECOND HALF

EKU opened the second with an 8-2 run to cut Xavier's lead back to seven, 49-42, less than two minutes into the half.
After having the lead cut to seven, a Paul Scruggs three started an 8-0 run for Xavier, topped by a pair of fast-break dunks, to push the lead out to 15, 57-42.
The Colonels would get as close as 12 before a 11-0 run pushed Xavier's lead out to 23, 70-47, with 11 minutes to play.
Xavier led by as many as 27 in the second half, 83-56, with just under eight minutes remaining.
EKU cut the lead down to 16, 87-71, with under five minutes remaining.
The Colonels got as close as the 14 in the final minutes of the game before Xavier won 95-77.
Paul Scruggs led Xavier with 10 points in the second half, shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Tyrique Jones (2-of-2), Kyle Castlin (2-of-2) and Ryan Welage (2-of-2) all shot 100 percent from the floor as Xavier shot 77.3 (17-of-22) from the floor for the half, including 55.6 percent on three pointers.

NOTABLES

Quentin Goodin led the Musketeers with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, dished out 10 assists and grabbed a career-high seven steals.
Naji Marshall scored 15 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Marshall also finished with six assists.
Tyrique Jones and Paul Scruggs both finished with 14 points, both connecting on 5-of-5 shots from the floor.
Zach Hankins finished with 14 points as well, shooting 6-of-7 from the floor.
Ryan Welage added 11, going 3-of-4 from the floor, all from beyond the arc, and 2-of-2 from the line.
Xavier finished shooting 71.4 percent from the floor, the highest field goal percentage in NCAA Division I this season, and just shy of the school record mark of 72.2 percent, set at Butler on Feb. 23, 1991, when the Musketeers shot 39-of-54.
Xavier held a 35-32 advantage on the boards.
The Musketeers outscored EKU, 32-14, on fast-break points.

UP NEXT

Xavier returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 18 when the Musketeers travel to Columbia, Mo. to face the Missouri Tigers. Tip off is set for 7:00 PM ET on ESPNU.

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