Xavier Comes From Behind For Second Straight Game To Best Butler

Naji Marshall made one of two free throws with three seconds left but it was enough to allow the Xavier Musketeers to escape with a 70-69 win over the Butler Bulldogs.

Kamar Baldwin continued his mastery of the Musketeers with 18 points. In six career games against the Musketeers, Baldwin has averaged 18 points-per-game.  It wasn’t enough as his last attempt was short at the buzzer.

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Paul Scruggs put on a show for friends and family watching his Xavier Musketeers battle his hometown Butler Bulldogs at the snowed in Cintas Center. Scruggs, who was a 2016 candidate for Indiana Mr. Basketball at Southport High in Indianapolis, scored 23 points to lead the Musketeers. It is one short of his career-high.

It enabled the Musketeers to pull off a comeback win for the second time this week.  Xavier trailed Georgetown by 17 points but turned the game around on Wednesday for an 81-75 win.

"I'm proud of our guys fight," Xavier head coach Travis Steele said. "It start with belief.  I looked around in the huddle at the end of the game. When you get down by 10 points at the last media time out, I look around and I still felt like our guys believed.  You could tell in Paul Scruggs eyes, Naji Marshall's eyes, Tyrque Jones, who at the time had four fouls.  When we hit adversity, I really, really, really like the fight our team has.  We've done this a few times this year."

Xavier erased three 10-point deficits throughout the game.

Scruggs had to take the place of the injured Quentin Goodin who is still day-to-day with a sore knee. He played all 40 minutes.

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"Paul has been keeping us together with Q out.  We have a lot of confidence in him," teammate Naji Marshall said.

"When you go from off the ball to on the ball, just being able to get the team in whatever we need them to be is big," Steele said.  "He has the ball a lot.  When you're dealing with a guy like Aaron Thompson, trying to pressure you, it is hard.  He's done a great job.  He had just two turnovers."

Scruggs led the Musketeers in scoring (23), rebounds (8) and assists (6).

The midwest rivals traded runs throughout the game. Butler used a 14-3 run over the last 3:27 to take a 31-26 halftime lead.

Butler scored the built an 11-point lead until Xavier head coach Travis Steele drew a technical foul at the 15:52 mark.  Xavier shaved seven points off the lead but went cold again as Butler rebuilt a 10-point lead.

Xavier made another run.Leading 66-64, Joey Brunk missed two free throws.  Then fouled Naji Marshall at the other end.  Marshall made both free throws to tie the game with 1:27 to go.

Baldwin was fouled by connecting on a jump shot to put Butler up by three but Scruggs assisted on Kyle Castlin's 3-pointer that tied the game again with 53 seconds.

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"We missed a couple of offensive rebounds at the end.  Castlin made a big shot which he's capable of but we really didn't expect that.  I wish we had a couple plays back but we played pretty well," Butler's Paul Jorgensen said.

Butler has lost two consecutive road games by one point.  Seton Hall beat them 76-75 on Wednesday.

"It is a tough one to swallow," second-year Butler coach LaVall Jordan said.  "When your guys play with that much spirit and that much energy and don't come out with a victory, it's hard to swallow.  Give them credit for making up their minds in the second half, that they were going to rebound the ball. We had stops but we have to finish possessions. We believe in this group and what they are capable of. We have to continue to get better. Belief is a powerful thing."

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Xavier guard Paul Scruggs and Butler big man, Joey Brunk were teammates at Indianapolis, Southport High School.  Southport won a sectional title with the pair in 2015-16.
Xavier head coach Travis Steele graduated from Butler in 2004.  Butler head coach LaVall Jordan graduated from Butler in 2001.  He is in his second year as head coach at his alma mater.


UP NEXT:

Butler will visit DePaul on Wednesday January 16 at 8:30 eastern time.  DePaul defeated St. Johns 79-71 on Saturday to improve its record to 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big East.
Xavier will travel to Philadelphia to meet Big East leader Villanova on Friday January 18 at 8:30 eastern time.  Villanova is 12-4 overall and 3-0 in the Big East pending a later game at Creighton on Sunday.