Xavier Bounces Back From Emotional Loss To Torture Eastern Kentucky

The moods couldn't have been more different when the  Eastern Kentucky Colonels visited the Cintas Center to take on the Xavier Musketeers.

Xavier was punished by its crosstown rivals from the University of Cincinnati to the tune of a dismal  62-47 loss a week ago.  Eastern Kentucky was on a high after beating in-state rival Northern Kentucky on a last second shot to beat the Norse, 76-74.  It was their second straight win by a 95-77 count.

Xavier (7-4) was gifted 11 turnovers and took advantage of sloppy ball handing by (6-5) EKU to run away with a win in spite of a record setting performance by Eastern's Nick Mayo.

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Mayo with his second 3-point shot of the game passed Matt Witt to top the Colonels all-time scoring list with 1,833 points.

"It was all about getting the win," Mayo said after the game. "I knew I was seven points away because of all the talk about it.  It is something I will look back on.. When I hit the three I knew I had it and it was time to focus on getting the win. My teammates and family and stuff talked about it.  I knew how many points I needed.  It was early in the game."

The Colonels with Nick Mayo leading the way took a 23-16 lead with 10:22 to play in the firstr but Xavier with the help of 11 Eastern Kentucky turnovers mounted a 31-10 run to lead 47-33 at the half.

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"We got up seven in the first half," EKU coach A.W. Hamilton said.  "Give Travis (Steele) credit he went to a 2-3 (zone) and it changed the game.  The whole dynamic of the game changed and we made some careless turnovers.  They came in bunches then.  I think they scored almost 30 points off our turnovers."

Eastern started by pressing the Musketeers full court and shot a whopping 38 3-point shots making 12 of them.

"They play a really unique style of basketball," Xavier coach Travis Steele said. "I told our guys heading into the game they're literally going to press from the first second of the game to the very last second of the game. It was either a turnover or a bucket for us in the second half."

Eastern, however, scored the first seven points of the second half to force Xavier coach, Travis Steele, to call an emergency time out after 1:10 was played.  The pause worked as Xavier went on an 8-0 run to re-establish the lead.

Mayo, who entered the game with a 24.4 points-per-game average, scored 25 for the Colonels.  Mayo has 20 games left to improve on his current 1,851 points.

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"I'm really focused on winning and we will see what happens the rest of the season as far as the scoring record," Mayo said.

His coach offered a look at the near future.

"NIck Mayo, I say it over and over again.  He's a superstar," Hamilton said  "He is a once in a lifetime player and person.  He's going to set the bar so high here at EKU, I don't think anyone in their wildest dreams will break his scoring record.  He's averaging 25 points a game and he's got 20 more games..  I'm so proud of him he fought like crazy.  I'm glad his family got to be here."

Freshman Jomaru Brown scored 17 and Dujuanta Weaver added 15 for the Colonels.

Six  Musketeers off set them. Quentin Goodin 16, Zach Hankins 14, Tyrique Jones 14, Paul Scruggs 14 , Naji Marshall 15 and Ryan Welage 11, scored in double figures.

Eastern Kentucky allowed over 90 points for the fifth time in 11 games. The Colonels finished with 23 turnovers but the Musketeers were charged with 27.