Xavier Holds Off Oakland For Third Straight Win

The Xavier Musketeers fought off a determined Oakland Golden Grizzlie squad  73-63 at the Cintas Center, notching a third straight win.

Xavier (5-3) led the Golden Grizzlies by five at half time, dodging a last minute possession by Oakland that threatened to cut the lead to three with a key offensive rebound by Xavier Hill-Mais, who had 22 points at the break.

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"We beat a good team," Xavier coach Travis Steele said.  "They are going to have a good year but without looking at the tape, I didn't see a lot of improvement from the Miami game (Wednesday night;s 82-55 win.)

A pair of Paul Scruggs layups helped push Xavier's lead to 11 but Oakland (3-5) cut the lead to three at mid half, 55-52.  A 3-pointer by Kamari Newman and a layup by Jaevin Cumberlain through an inattentive Musketeer defense cut into Xavier's healthy lead.

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"It was two teams that have a great history," Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. "They had a talented group of players that lost everyone.  We were on the same path. I thought it was a hell of a basketball game. Coach Steele did some great things.  He figured some things out. We threw some stuff at them that confused him. When it counted they made the plays they needed to make."

Paul Scruggs had three steals in the half that allowed Xavier maintain the lead.  Xavier had just three turnovers in its last game against Miami but was a little less careful with the ball on Saturday with 11 turnovers many in situations that would have let them blow the game open but Hills-Mais returned after a minute to sink another basket in the paint.

"We made a couple down the stretch that aren't talent based," Kampe said. "That's usually comes from not being there before. They were home.  They made the plays."

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A 3-point shot by Braden Morris made it a four-point game with 1:27 left. Naji Marshall responded with a 3-pointer to put the game on ice.

Six Musketeers scored in double figures. Scruugs and Ryan Castlin scored 10.  Tyrique Jones, Ryan Welage and Zach Hankins scored 11.  Marshall led the way with 14 points.  Jones was the game leader with 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double.

Hills-Mais finished with 30 points to lead all scorers and collected eight rebounds.  Norris made four of his six 3-point attempts to score 14 points for the Golden Grizzlies.

"Norris is a green light shooter.  We told our guys if you're not there when he catches to ball it is going to be a long night," Steele said.,

It was the third 30-point game for Hill-Mais despite breaking his nose in a loss to Nevade-Las Vegas on November 16.

"Hills-Mais is that good," Kampe said.. " He came in averaging 25. At Vegas and they're big and strong like Xavier, he broke his nose and only played 20 minutes.  He scored 30 in that game too.  He'd have had 50 in that game if he didn't break his nose."

Hills-Mais was a red-shit last year and didn't play.

"He is going to make us a good team,"  Kampe said. ."We red shirted him last year because the guy in front of him was a four-year all league player (Jalen Hayes).  He didn't want to be a backup for his last two years.  He wanted to be the man his last two years and he could be the man.  We had a lot of injuries last year and it hurt us not having him. Now I've got him two years. I'm glad."