Musketeers Fall to Villanova in Overtime of the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals

Friday, March 15

New York City, N.Y.

6:30 p.m.

Xavier University

18-15

Villanova

24-9

OT 1

Xavier

Villanova

Musketeers Fall to Villanova in Overtime of the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals

03.15.19 | Men's Basketball

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

Paul Scruggs post a career-highs of 28 points and 11 rebounds

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

NEW YORK - A career-night for Paul Scruggs fueled the No. 4 seeded Musketeers as they led No. 1 seed Villanova for nearly 30 minutes, but a late VU push forced overtime where the Musketeers fell, 71-67, in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals. Scruggs finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds, both career-highs, for his second-career double-double.

FIRST HALF

Xavier made the opening basket and the two teams traded one-possession leads over the first five minutes before a 5-0 run for the Wildcats put VU ahead four, 10-6, with 14 minutes remaining in the half.
VU lead by four, 12-8, when Xavier put together an 11-3 run, with five points coming from Ryan Welage, to take a 19-15 lead with seven minutes remaining before halftime. During the four-minute run for the Musketeers, Villanova turned the ball over four times. VU hit a basket to stop the run, but Paul Scruggs responded with a three to extend Xavier's lead to force a Villanova timeout.
Scruggs' three started a 10-3 run for the Musketeers to extend the lead out to nine, 29-20, with four minutes remaining. Scruggs opened the game 5-of-5 from the floor, including a pair of threes, scoring 14 of Xavier's first 29 points.
Xavier's lead would extend to as many as 10, 33-23, with 2:34 remaining in the half before VU closed the half on a 5-1 run to set the halftime score at 34-28 in favor of the Musketeers.
Paul Scruggs led the Musketeers with 15 points.
Zach Hankins added six on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor and Tyrique Jones added six as well.
The Musketeers shot 50 percent from the floor, including 3-of-8 from three, to 42.3 percent for Villanova, which hit 4-of-14 from outside. Xavier outscored the Wildcats 22-12 on points in the paint.
VU held a 16-15 advantage on the boards. Jones, Scruggs and Hankins each led Xavier with three boards.

SECOND HALF

A VU three to open the second half cut the Xavier led to three, and the Musketeers 3-to-5 point lead over the next five minutes until a three pointer from Paul Scruggs pushed the XU advantage to six, 41-35, with 15 minutes remaining.
Four straight VU points cut Xavier's lead to two, 43-41, the closest it had been since the 5:53 mark in the first half, but a Zach Hankins dunk pushed the lead back to four.
Hankins' dunk started a stretch where the Musketeers out-scored the Wildcats 10-6, pushing Xavier's lead to six, 53-47, with six minutes remaining.
Villanova responded with five straight points to cut Xavier's lead to two, 55-53, with 2:16 remaining.
A Zach Hankins basket ended the VU run, putting Xavier ahead four, 57-53, going into the final minute, but a VU three made Xavier's lead one with 40 seconds to play.
Hankins hit a free throw to make the lead two, but VU responded with a basket in the final 10 seconds to tie the game at 58-58.
After a Xavier offensive foul and a VU turnover, a Naji Marshall look at the buzzer missed and the game went to overtime.
Scruggs had a team-high 12 points in the second half.
Hankins added eight for the Musketeers.

OVERTIME

Zach Hankins scored the opening basket of overtime to put Xavier up two, but a pair of VU free throws and a three gave Villanova a three-point lead, 63-60.
Another Hankins basket cut the lead to one, but five straight points put VU up, 68-62, with 2:23 to play.
A Ryan Welage basket and a Quentin Goodin dunk fueled a 5-1 Xavier run to cut the deficit back to two, 69-67.
VU hit a pair of free throws in the final second to set the final score at 71-66.
Hankins had four points to lead the Musketeers in overtime.

NOTABLE

Paul Scruggs finished with 28 points after starting the game 8-of-8 from the floor. Scruggs also had a career-high 11 rebounds to lead the Musketeers.
Zach Hankins finished with 18 points on 8-of-10 from the floor.
Xavier owned a 44-30 advantage on points in the paint.
Quentin Goodin finished with eight assists. Paul Scruggs dished out seven.
Xavier owned a 39-37 advantage on the boards.