Xavier Catches A Break That Could Put Them On Top Of NCAA Ranking

http://donatelifeohio.org/

Upset was in the air when Trevon Bluiett completed a four-point play with Xavier trailing Georgetown 86-82 with 38 seconds left in the game.

The Xavier Musketeers won the battle of attrition in the 96-91 win that could earn them their highest NCAA ranking ever. With a game left with number 1 Villanova and number 3 Purdue and number 5 Michigan State meeting next Saturday.  The Musketeers could move very close to the top.

http://www.wiedemannbeer.com/

Xavier coach Chris Mack set up a play to spring Bluiett for a 3-point shot.  Bluiett took a pass from Quentin Gooden and launched a pinpoint shot that found the bottom of the net as Georgetown's Jagan Mosely coming off the screen late to contest the shot fouled the Xavier star.  Bluiett sank the free throw and sand the Hoyas spirit.

"It felt good coming out of my hand," Bluiett said.  "I didn't expect to be fouled but I think he was off balance coming off the screen.  I didn't know if they (officials) would call it but I flopped.  I tried it earlier and they didn't call it."

Bluiett finished the game with 31 points, the 2,000-point career scorer also added four rebounds with a key rebound off a missed free throw by Sean O'Mara.

"The four-point play was one thing but I think the rebound off the missed free throw was big too.  They would have had to foul us and we could have stretched our lead," Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing said.

The young Hoyas, had Georgetown (13-9, 3-8) in position to pull off a big upset of Xavier (21-3, 9-2) with four players near the 20-point level.  Junior Jessee Govan led the Hoyas with 23 points.  Freshman Jamarko Pickett scored 21.  Marcus Derrickson scored 19.  Jahvon Blair hit five big 3-point shots to keep Georgetown in a tight game with 20 ties and 21 lead changes.

Tyrique Jones was a .552 free throw shooter coming into the game but he made nine of 14 to foil the Hoyas plan for putting him on the foul line.  He made 4-of-5 in the overtime period to finish with 15 points.  Kerem Kanter scored 12 points, including Xavier's first seven points of the game.  Goodin had 11 points with two big 3-point baskets mixed in.

Bluiett made a 3-point shot off an inbounds play with two seconds left in the first half to give Xavier a 46-44 lead at halftime.

Xavier had its biggest lead at five points with 13:18 left in the second half.  Georgetown held its largest lead of five with 5:02 left in the first half.  The teams traded baskets most of the game.

"This shows our team that we can win a game like this," Xavier coach Chris Mack said.  "It is always good to play well but there are always nights like this in the Big East regardless of records.  Sometimes a little luck helps."

Xavier is now 12-4 against Gerogetown in the series.  They have battled twice in the NCAA tournament with Xavier winning in 1990 and Georgetown prevailing in 1995.

Xavier trails number 1 Villanova in the conference with its 9-2 Big East record.

Xavier will play at Butler Tuesday February 6 at 6:30 pm, looking for its seventh win in a row.

Georgetown will try to end its three-game losing streak at Providence on Tuesday at 8:30.

Notes:

Xavier clinched a winning conference record for the 36th straight season. No other school in Division I has a similar streak higher than 31 straight.

Bluiett's 31 points were a new season high and the most since he scored 40 against Cincinnati on January 26 last season.

Kanter's 12 points gave him double figures for the third straight contest.

Goodin scored in double figures for the 12th time this season.

Kaiser Gates grabbed 10 rebounds to tie his career high.

It was Xavier's first overtime game of the season. They last played in overtime against Missouri on Novemeber 17 last season, an 83-82 win.