Xavier Returns To The Win Column Over Georgetown

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The Xavier Musketeers tuned up for the Crosstown Shootout against UC by snapping its three -game losing streak at the expense of the Georgetown Hoyas with an 86-75 win.

Xavier (14-5, 4-3) had a huge 35-21 edge in rebounding and kept Georgetown (10-10, 1-6) to one offensive rebound.

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With J.P Macura leading the way with 10 free throws and scored 20 points. Trevon Bluiett led the Musketeers with 24 points.  Edmond Sumner added 14 and Malcom Bernard scored 12.

"It feels good to win," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "We took a step forward."

Sean O'Mara had a game-high six rebounds.

Rodney Pryor led Georgetonw with 23 points and L.J. Peak scored 12.

Xavier led by one point at halftime and built up a 12 point lead at the 16:31 mark of the second half. but a layup by Pryor tied the game at 58-58 at the 9:17 mark.

Xavier made 36 free throws out of 49 attempts for a 73.5 percentage. It was poor free throw shooting that sealed the Musketeers fate against Creighton om Monday.

The Musketeers play Cincinnati at 5/3rd Arena on Thursday.  Cincinnati

Xavier Loses Third Straight To Big East Elite

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The gauntlet is complete and the Xavier Musketeers ranked 22nd took their lumps on the road and took its third straight loos on its home court.  The Creighton Blue Jays  ranked 7th held  on to win 72-67.

Losses to former number one Villanova and 12th ranked Butler led up to the matchup with the Blue Jays. 

Xavier (13-5, 3-3 Big East) rallied from an 11-point deficit with nine minutes to go in the game after head coach Chris Mack after Malcolm Bernard was called for an offensive foul with XU trailing 55-50.  A minute and a half later, Creighton (18-1, 5-1 Big East) led 61-50.

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Xavier fought back to take a 67-66 lead with 1:08 left.

Rashid Gaston, who scored 12 points and led all rebounders with 17, made a jumper in the lane after a tip in by 7'  freshman Justin Patton tipped in a missed shot.  J.P. Macura rebounded a missed shot by Marcus Foster and Edmond Sumner tied the game after Gaston pulled in a offensive rebound.

Xavier's Trevon Bluiett stole the ball from Isiah Zierdan and Macura hit one of two free throws on the other end to give Xavier the lead.  They didn't score again.

Patton tipped in a miss by Foster with :49 seconds left

Xavier missed four shots on one trip  Sumner rebounded a 3-poin miss by Bluiett and Gaston missed twice after rebounding Sumner's miss.  Macura was forced to foul Cole Huff following his rebound of Gaston's second miss.

"The ball didn't roll in for us," Mack said.  "It wasn't a lack of effort.  We could have done things better earlier in the game. At times we weren't tough enough>

Bluiett led Xavier with 17 points.  Sumner had 10.  Poor free throw shooting 16-for-29 (55%) cost the Musketeers the game.

"Just taking care of  the ball, paying attention to details and making our free throws will help things go our way," Gaston said. "You've got to go to the line with confidence and knock them down."

Creighton had to play the the last 29 minutes without its floor leader, Maurice Watson Jr..  Watson leads the nation with 162 assists this season and 8.8 per game.  He is also the NCAA active leader with 801, including three against Xavier.

Wataon injured his knee with over nine minutes left in the game.  As a senior who transferred from Boston three years ago, he is also Creighton's emotional leader.

 "It was tough when we lost Mo," Huff said.. "We could have hung our heads. He could have hung his head but he was inspirational on the bench. He was another set of eyes. We are a family. It was guys that don't play much that carried him off. They could hang their heads because the don't play much but they won't leave anyone behind."

Watson did what he could from the bench after he was carried off the court by teammates after the game.

 "It meant the world to me when my teammates carried me off the court," Watson said. "One of the things I wanted to work on was to be a better leader. For them to embrace me like that after I may have been an A hole to them means a lot to me."

There is no structural damage to his knee.

"It hurt really badly when the adrenaline wore off. There is no structural damage but I'm going to live in the training room for awhile," Watson said. "It is tough to put into words whet this means to us. We came in here with a chance to win three times in this building. It is hard to do and I know how far this team has come in the last three years."

Xavier Remains Only Undefeated Team In The Big East - Myles Davis Returning

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The Xavier Musketeers won a frenetic game against the visiting St. John's Red Storm, 97-82.

The Musketeers (13-2, 3-0) the leading rebounding team in the league shot 59 percent from the floor, including 15-for-26 from 3-point range but were out rebounded 38-36.

St. John (8-9, 2-2) shot 10-for-27 from 3-point range to stay close.

"We played really unselfish," Xavier head coach Chris Mack said.  "We were finding the open man.  We made an emphasis to get the ball in the lane. We had the game plan to get them in foul trouble and we did that."

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St. John committed 25 fouls.  Xavier converted 19 of 32 from the foul line.  Xavier fouled 22 times and St. John's shot 80 percent from the line (20-25).

St. John's is a young team with just one senior.

"We are young and inexperienced," St. John's coach Chris Mullin said. "We try not to use that as an excuse but were are trying to get better while winning. We were porous in the first half.  We have to learn to defend better."

Six Musketeers scored 10 points or more.

Edmond Sumner led the Musketeers with 20 points.  Kaiser Gates had 17.  Trevon Bluiett bounced back from a game in which he scored just one point to post 15.  J.P. Macura had 14. Malcolm Bernard and freshman Tyrique Jones scored 10.

Marcul LoVett, red-shirt freshman from Ft. Wayne, Indiana led all scorers with 32. Shamorie Ponds added 21 and Bashir Ahmed scored 10 for St. John's. Ponds had a game-high seven rebounds.

'The scary part is they are all ffreshmen," Mack said.

Mack also announced that veteran Myles Davis will be added to the active roster for the first time this season.  Davis served a 15-game disciplinary suspension.

"He will be no different than the other 14 players on the team," Mack said.  "He met all the terms of the suspension that were presented to him.  We hope he will continue to make the right choices to remain part of this team."

The Reds Sign RH Reliever Drew Storen

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The Reds signed right-handed relief pitcher Drew Storen to a one-year Major League contract.

Storen  is from Brownsville, Indiana, where he was a high school teammate of  Reds' catcher Tucker Barnhart.

Storen is 29 and was a first round pick of the Washington Nationals in 2009. He broke into the big leagues the next season as a 22-year old.

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Storen had 43 saves with a 6-3 record and a 2.75 ERA in 2011.

A year ago, Storen was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays with cash for Ben Revere and a player to be named later.  Storen appeared in 38 games for Toronto until he was traded to the Seattle Mariners on July 26 for Joaquin Benoit.

Storen was 1-3 with three saves in Toronto with a 6.21 ERA.  After the trade, Storen pitched in 19 games with Seattle and had a 3-0 record. He earned $8,375,000 last season.

The Reds will have open competition for a closer this spring with Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen in the mix with Storen.

The Reds also claimed RHP Tyrell Jenkins off waivers from the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.