Big Second Half By Naji Marshall And Xavier Wins Crosstown Rivalry

Naji Marshall tool control of the game for the Xavier Musketeers, who took down its crosstown rivals, the Cincinnati Bearcats in a 73-67 win at the Cintas Center.

Marshall led all scorers with a career-high tying 31 points to lift the Musketeers in a second half ambush.

"We were locked in for 40 minutes.  They hit some tough shots but we played hard to the end," Marshall said.

Cincinnati was within three points at halftime, 32-29..  Tyrique Jones only played four minutes after he was whistled for two early fouls.  Zach Freemantle took his place and scored seven points and pulled in four rebounds.

"I was going to put Tyrique back in but Zach Freemantle was so dang good," Xavier coach Travis Steele said.

It allowed Jones to be fresh in the second half without the added pressure of foul trouble.  Jones scored four points and Marshall seven in the first six minutes of the second half.  Xavier built a 10-point lead.

'We dame out in the second half and they punched us in the mouth.  We never recovered," Jaevin Cumberland said.  Jaevin Cumberland had 14 points and his brother Jarron had 11.  Jarron, a senior, is the Bearcats leading scorer on the season, averaging 14.3 points per game.  He is nursing a minor injury and was not at his best.

"He looked pretty good to me," Steele said, "We had Naji on him and he played pretty good defense.  People will talk about his 31 points but he played dorn good defense.'

"It isn't about me," Marshall said.  He got great respect from the Cincinnati coach.

"Naji is a big time player," UC coach John Brannen said.  "He took over the game in the second half, both halves really. He had an unbelievable game."

Brannen thought his team was good in the first half but was subpar in the second half.

"It was a lack of intensity in the second half and focus on guarding the basketball," Brannen said. "We've had that issue in the second half of the games for most of the early season. That being said we cut it to a two possession game with two minutes to go.  We fought back but at the end of the day we have to defend at a higher level."

Xavier maintained a double digit lead, stretching it to as high as 16 points until the 2:27 mark of the second half. 

Mika Adams-Woods hit a 3-point basket on a fast break feed from Jaevin Cumberland to cut their deficit to eight.  Trevon Scott stole a Marshall pass to give the Bearcats a chance to close the gap to five but Jaevin Cumberland missed a 3-point shot at the other end.  Jones snatched his sixth rebound to preserve Xavier's lead.  Chris McNeal scored a basket with nine seconds left to provide the final tally.

Jones narrowly missed his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and nine rebounds despite playing just 22 minutes.  Marshall had eight rebounds to go with his 31 points.  Freemantle finished with nine points and four rebounds.  Quentin Goodin had eight assists and played 'darn good defense," according to Steele.

Cincinnati got the 25 points from the Wilmington, Ohio Cumberland brothers.  Ketih Williams led the Bearcats with 15 points.  Adams-Woods scored 10.  Freshman Chris Vogt, who was recruited by Brannen at his old gig for Northern Kentucky but followed the coach to UC, scored 10 points and led Cincinnati with eight rebounds.