Xavier crushes Seton Hall for first Big East win

Field Level Media|published: Tue 31st December, 16:57 2024

Dec 31, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Xavier Musketeers guard Dayvion McKnight (20) drives to the basket against Seton Hall Pirates guard Chaunce Jenkins (2) in the first half at the Cintas Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Ryan Conwell scored a game-high 22 points, Marcus Foster added 14 points and six rebounds as host Xavier thrashed Seton Hall 94-72 to pick up its first Big East Conference win Tuesday in Cincinnati.

Four other players scored in double figures for the Musketeers (9-5, 1-2 Big East), who shot a dominant 57.4 percent from the field (27 of 47) while holding Seton Hall to 37.7 percent (23 of 61).

Dante Maddox Jr. scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, adding six assists. Dailyn Swain had 13 points, Jerome Hunter scored 12 on perfect 3-for-3 shooting and John Hugley IV tied his season high with 11.

Isaiah Coleman paced Seton Hall with 19 points. Scotty Middleton scored 12 and Chaunce Jenkins 11 for the Pirates (5-9, 0-3), who have lost five straight and six of seven.

The teams combined for 51 fouls, 29 committed by Seton Hall. The Musketeers went 30 of 40 from the foul line.

Xavier fell behind 5-0 before responding with its 16-point run, bookended by baskets from Foster and featuring eight points from Conwell. When Conwell added a 3-pointer eight minutes in to give Xavier a 20-11 lead, the Musketeers had made seven of their first 10 shot attempts.

Maddox, listed at 6-foot-2, leapt to block a dunk attempt by 6-foot-9 Pirates center Godswill Erheriene. Maddox set up Hunter for a fastbreak 3-pointer, then made a steal and took it the other way himself for a 30-15 Xavier lead at the 9:04 mark of the half.

The Musketeers held two more 15-point leads before taking a 44-31 advantage into the locker room after Conwell beat his man down the floor to make a last-second jumper. Conwell shot 6-for-10 overall with three triples for 18 points in the half.

Hugley got in on the action in the second half when he bullied his way in for a layup, hit a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer and added a bucket and foul shot for Xavier. The three-point play pushed the Musketeers' lead past 20 for the first time at 63-41 with 13:33 to play.

Xavier led by 25 with more than 10 minutes to go, and the Pirates drew no closer than 20 the rest of the way. Foster hit a fastbreak layup and a 3-pointer down the stretch to punctuate the dominant win.

--Field Level Media

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