Hot-shooting Xavier breezes past Jackson State

Field Level Media|published: Tue 12th November, 23:02 2024

Xavier Musketeers guard Trey Green (0) celebrates a three point basket in the first half of the NCAA Men’s Basketball game between the Xavier Musketeers and the Jackson State Tigers at the Cintas Center at Xavier University in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. Xavier led 40-25 at halftime.

CINCINNATI - Zach Freemantle scored a team-high 21 points and Dailyn Swain paired 10 points with 10 rebounds to lead Xavier to a 94-57 rout of visiting Jackson State on Tuesday night.

Freemantle led a scorching performance from the field for Xavier, which shot 54.1 percent from the floor and hit 16 of 31 3-pointers. The big man finished 8-of-11 overall and went 4-of-5 from distance.

The Musketeers had six players score in double figures. Dante Maddox Jr. tallied 16 points off the bench, Trey Green had 15 points, Ryan Conwell netted 14 and John Hugley IV finished with 11.

Xavier (3-0) has two games remaining on its season-opening, five-game homestand.

Jayme Mitchell Jr. had a game-high 26 points and Romelle Mansel added nine points and seven rebounds to lead Jackson State (0-3), which is just three games into a brutal 13-game road trip to open the season.

The Musketeers drained four of their first five 3-pointers to open up a 14-2 lead just over four minutes into the game. Conwell, an Indiana State transfer, made Xavier's first two 3-point attempts to continue his hot start with his new team.

Freemantle helped the Musketeers build their lead to 33-14 on his third triple with just under seven minutes left in the half.

As red-hot as Xavier was to start the game, Jackson State was ice-cold. The Tigers missed their first seven shots and 10 of their first 11 from the floor.

Jackson State was looking for some momentum just before half when Dorian McMillian stole a pass from Conwell near midcourt. McMillian was going in for a dunk just before the halftime buzzer when Hugley came racing over for a thunderous block that brought the Xavier crowd to its feet and sent the Musketeers to the locker room with a 40-25 lead.

Nine straight misses by the Tigers eventually allowed Xavier to expand its lead to 54-29 midway through the second half. Jackson State missed 30 of its first 41 shots, including misfires on 10 of 15 layups.

Jackson State, which lost 97-40 in its opener at No. 4 Houston, plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday and Western Kentucky on Wednesday before facing No. 19 Kentucky on Nov. 22.

The Tigers' home opener is Jan. 11.

--Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media

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