Men's Basketball Falls to Butler in BIG EAST Tournament First Round

Wednesday, March 10

New York, N.Y.

6:00 PM

Xavier University

13-8,6-7Big East

Butler

10-14,8-12Big East

OT 1

Butler

Xavier

Men's Basketball Falls to Butler in BIG EAST Tournament First Round

03.10.21 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Dwon Odom sets new career-high, matches Zach Freemantle for team-high at 14 points

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

NEW YORK - After Xavier men's basketball jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first half, No. 10 seeded Butler Bulldogs chipped away at the lead late in the second half. The No. 7 seeded Musketeers battled back to force overtime but fell, 70-69, in the BIG EAST Tournament First Round at Madison Square Garden. Four Musketeers finished in double figures, led by Zach Freemantle and a career night for Dwon Odom.

Xavier moves to 13-8 overall and awaits post-season tournament selection decisions.

FIRST HALF

Xavier and Butler traded buckets for the first 3:30, with neither team leading by more than three in the early going, before a 15-2 Xavier run put the Musketeers ahead 11, 22-11, with 10 minutes remaining before halftime.
Xavier continued to build its lead, extending its run to a 25-4 stretch to lead by as many as 19 in the first half, 32-13 with six minutes remaining.
Back-to-back Butler threes started a 9-2 Butler run to cut the Xavier lead down to 12, 34-22, but Xavier outscored the Bulldogs 6-4 over the final four minutes of the half to go into the break up 14, 40-26.
Colby Jones led the way for Xavier with 10, and Xavier's trio of freshman combined for 25 points, with Dwon Odom adding eight and C.J. Wilcher scoring seven.
Xavier shot 58.6 percent from the field overall and 6-of-12 from three.
Xavier held a 21-11 advantage in the first half. Jones led the Musketeers with four.

SECOND HALF

Xavier led by as many as 15, 43-28, in the first three minutes of the second half but the Bulldogs outscored Xavier 21-9 over the next 12 minutes to make it a three-point game, 52-49, with just over six minutes to play.
Zach Freemantle scored seven straight Musketeer points, helping Xavier take a six point lead, 59-53 into the final 2:30 of regulation.
Butler closed out the second half with a 6-0 run but a Dwon Odom block in the final second prevented the game-winning bucket to send the game to overtime.
Zach Freemantle had 10 second half points to lead the Musketeers.
Xavier was out-rebounded 18-13 in the second half.

OVERTIME

Butler opened the overtime period with a three, then held the lead until a Xavier 6-0 run, with four points coming from Jason Carter, put the Musketeers ahead 67-65 with 1:10 remaining
The Bulldogs retook the lead on a three, then the two teams traded free throws in the final 20 seconds to put Butler ahead, 70-69, with three seconds remaining.
A look from Paul Scruggs was a bit after the buzzer, setting the final score at 70-69.
Paul Scruggs and Jason Carter each had four in the overtime period.

NOTABLE

Dwon Odom finished with a career-high 14 points after scoring eight in the first half.
Zach Freemantle also finished with a team-high 14 points and had seven boards and four assists.
Colby Jones finished with 10 points, all scored in the first half. Jones also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and four assists.
Paul Scruggs finished with 10 points.
Odom and Jones' double-digit outings mark the first time Xavier has had two freshmen score in double digits in the BIG EAST Tournament.
Xavier had a 37-31 advantage on rebounds.