CINCINNATI (AP) Zach Freemantle scored 17 points, Dayvion McKnight scored 13 of his 14 in the second half and Trey Green made 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 12 seconds to help No. 22 Xavier hold on for a 71-68 win over South Carolina State on Sunday night.
Xavier (7-1) opened the season with six consecutive wins before a 78-53 loss to Michigan on Thursday in the championship game at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
Xavier used a 14-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 58-45 when Jerome Hunter, who finished with 10 points, made a layup with 5:38 remaining. The Bulldogs scored the next 12 points, capped when Omar Croskey hit a 3-pointer and followed with a dunk that made it a one-point game about 3 minutes later.
The Musketeers made 10 of 12 from the free-throw line from there to seal it.
Croskey scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half for South Carolina State (4-5), Michael Teal finished with 14 and Mitchell Taylor added 11 – nine after halftime.
Xavier committed six turnovers (including a shot-clock violation) – which led to seven South Carolina State points – as the Bulldogs jumped to an 18-11 lead when Davion Everett made a layup with 10:31 left in the first half that capped a 13-0 run. Xavier scored 21 of the next 25 points, including seven by Freemantle, to make it 32-22 after Marcus Foster hit a 3-pointer about 9 minutes later.
Zach Freemantle moved past Joe Viviano, who scored 1,338 points for Xavier from 1956-59, into 24th on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,352 – 32 behind Jeff Jenkins (1980-84).
South Carolina State: The Bulldogs play host to Samford on Thursday.
Xavier: The Musketeers hit the road to play Thursday at TCU.
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TOP SCORERS | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0
|
O. Croskey G | 16PTS | 4REB | 1AST | |
32
|
Z. Freemantle F | 17PTS | 7REB | 2AST |
STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
M. Taylor | 11 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
D. Jones | 8 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
D. Everett | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
C. McKenzie | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
F. Tenebay | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
O. Croskey | 16 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
M. Teal | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
W. Dubinsky | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
C. McCarty | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
J. Morrow | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
R. Maric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Johnson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
J. Seay-Oliver | – | – | – | – |
D. Wright | – | – | – | – |
J. Miles | – | – | – | – |
L. Hunt | – | – | – | – |
Total | 68 | 27 | 15 | 28 |
STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
Z. Freemantle | 17 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
D. McKnight | 14 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
R. Conwell | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
D. Swain | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
M. Foster | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
J. Hunter | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
T. Green | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
D. Maddox Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
J. Hugley IV | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
B. Nunge | – | – | – | – |
M. Wolf | – | – | – | – |
I. Sabourin | – | – | – | – |
H. Thole | – | – | – | – |
C. Fletcher | – | – | – | – |
B. Colbert | – | – | – | – |
Total | 71 | 25 | 18 | 19 |