The Xavier Musketeers avoided a let down after the hotly contested Crosstown Shootout and steamrolled the Kent State Golden Flashes 96-70 at the Cintas Center.
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Xavier 8-1 brought a 13 ranking in the Associated Press poll into the contest and showed why they are highly ranked.
"What they've done here with this program in the last 20 years is phenomenal. This is an elite, elite program," said the admiring opponent coach Rob Senderoff.
Xavier scored the first 11 points of the game and led 14-4 when Kent State fought back to get within five.
Xavier coach Chris Mack called a time out and Xavier went on a 6-0 run to end the half. with a 48-32 halftime lead.
"I got asked 4-5 times about a letdown," Mack said. "You can't shield your guys from hearing people ask about it. I didn't want that to happen to us. I thought from very beginning we were ready to go. Kent State is very talented. When they get their leading scorer back from injury, I expect them to have a great year."
Kent State (5-4) was never in the game after that as Xavier picked up where they left off in the second half.
Trevon Bluiett led all scorers with 26 points Karem Kanter scored 20. Sean O'Mara added 14 and Tyrique Jones scored 13.
Kent State's Jalen Avery, out of Covington, Kentucky and Shroder High School scored 13 points for the Golden Flashes, two points behind leading scorer Danny Pippen. Kevin Zabo scored 12 and Desmond Ridenour 10 to join the "double figure" club.
"It was something I was looking forward to," Avery said. "It was a great experience playing in front of my family. If we learn from this it will help us a lot when we get into the MAC. We won't play a team like this in our conference."
Notes:
Xavier is 13-1 in its last 14 games against MAC opponents....Bluiett scored 20 or more points for the seventh time this season...Kanter's season high 20 points marked the second straight games, he has scored in double figures. ..O'Mara's 14 points are a season high...The Musketters shot 24-25 from the free throw line, hitting the first 13. Freshman Paul Scruggs missed one of his two attempts. "JP. (Macura) made sure Paul knew he was the only one who missed one," Mack said.
Xavier entertains Colorado at the Cintas Center at 5:00 pm on Satruday December 9.
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