No. 6 Xavier back home after road scare to play Georgetown (Feb 02, 2018)
No. 6 Xavier escaped with a narrow victory Tuesday at St. John's, which is winless in the Big East, but the Musketeers are not fretting the 73-68 outcome as they prepare to host Georgetown on Saturday.
The win over St. John's was Xavier's first game in six days, and the Red Storm took the Musketeers (20-3, 8-2 Big East) to the limit in Cincinnati only 13 days previously, losing 88-82.
Xavier coach Chris Mack is looking mostly at how defensive stops down the stretch led to the victory. St. John's, 0-11 in conference play, was thrwarted three consecutive times from scoring in the last minute.
"We didn't play particularly well, but I thought St. John's had a lot to do with that," Mack said. "They hit you with quickness on both ends of the floor. ... We knew it would be a tough game. We didn't have any kind of mindset -- at least the coaching staff didn't -- we didn't have any inkling it wasn't going to be a tough game."
The Musketeers committed 16 turnovers against St. John's, but their balanced scoring proved to be the difference.
Xavier had four players in double figures, led by Trevon Blueitt's 14 points. Kerem Kanter, who hit a pivotal 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, finished with 13 points. Quentin Goodin (13) and J.P. Macura (11) were the other double-figure scorers.
Kaiser Gates scored all five of his points in the last eight minutes. Freshman Naji Marshall added seven points.
"It didn't look good, but if we can go on the road and win, it's always good enough," Goodin said.
Georgetown (13-8, 3-7) has lost four of its last five games. The game at Xavier is the second of three straight road games for the Hoyas, who play at Providence on Tuesday. They are 3-3 on the road.
Freshman guard Jahvon Blair had a career-high 21 points, bolstered by five 3-pointers and a perfect 4-of-4 performance from the free throw line, in Georgetown's 85-77 loss at Creighton on Tuesday.
Junior forward Marcus Derrickson added 17 points and five rebounds for Georgetown. Freshman guard Jamorko Pickett produced a team-high six rebounds to go with nine points.
Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing took solace in the way his team battled back against Creighton in a tough environment. After trailing 46-33 at halftime, the Hoyas rallied to cut the Bluejays' lead to 71-70 with less than four minutes remaining.
"We didn't start the game out with the intensity and with the right frame of mind that I would have liked," Ewing said. "In the second half, we came with a lot more intensity, a lot more effort, a lot more focus."
Georgetown hopes to take that aggressiveness into Cincinnati. The Hoyas got to the foul line at Creighton with 10 attempts in a three-minute stretch midway through the half, and they started attacking the offensive glass, building an 11-2 edge in second-chance points.
