Xavier Hunts Bison To Extinction In A Tune Up Win

Tyrique Jones turned in his fourth double-double of the season. The Xavier Musketeers used a 14-2 run over the last six minutes of the first have to shoot down the Lipscomb Bisons of Nashville, 87-62 in a tune up for the Crosstown Shootout next Saturday against Cincinnati.

Jones commanded the boards with 10 rebounds.  No other Musketeer had more than four.  He added 14 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field, including a game opening dunk.

The game was even for the first 14 minutes with Xavier leading, 26-24 when a run fueled by a slashing layup by Paul Scruggs put separation between the teams.  Scruggs scored on a turn around jumper off an aborted drive on the next trip down the court.  Lipscomb (2-5) wore down into a halftime deficit of 40-26.

Bryce Moore and KyKy Tandy contributed 3-pointers to the run, coming off the bench.

Lipscomb scored on five straight possessions mid way in the second half but Xavier (7-1) pulled away with a fresh bench that Lipscomb couldn't keep up with.

Jones watched freshman Zach Freemantle operate in the second half.  Freemantle scored a career-high 15 points and 7-for-7 from the foul line.  He chipped in five rebounds.

Scruggs had 15 points and Naji Marshall added 13.

Freshman KJ Johnson scored a game-high 25 points for the Bison. Ahsan Asadullah scored 18.  Only four Lipscomb players scored.  Xavier had 10 players with points.

"We wore down.  We have three players out and it showed," Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. "If you take the first 14 minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half, it was an even game.  They killed us on the glass.  Our youth and their physicality was too much for us."

Xavier got 33 points from the bench.  Lipscomb had no points aside from the starters.

"I have a lot of respect for them.  They will win a lot of games.  This is a great environment."

Xavier rebounded from its lone loss on Sunday a 70-65 decision against Florida in the Charleston Classic. 

"This is just one game and we've played a lot of styles.  That will help us in the Big East," Xavier coach Travis Steele said.  "We had too many turnovers (14).  We have to get that down to 10.  We moved the ball pretty well but we didn't play defense for 40 minutes.  I will look at the tape to see but that needs to be our identity."

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