Desmond Claude scored 26 of his career-high 36 points in the second half to propel Xavier to a 98-93, come-from-behind win over Georgetown on Saturday night in Washington, D.C.
Dayvion McKnight had 18 points and Quincy Olivari contributed 16 points and seven rebounds as the Musketeers (15-14, 9-9 Big East) won their second straight and swept the Hoyas for the second straight regular season.
Driving relentlessly to the hoop, Claude dominated the second half. Over the final eight minutes, Xavier outscored Georgetown 31-16 after trailing 77-67.
Xavier trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half before rallying. The Musketeers shot 73.1 percent from the floor in the second half after making 37.9 percent of their attempts in the first half, including 1-for-8 from behind the arc.
Kachi Nzeh added 13 points and six rebounds while Gytis Nemeiksa gave the Musketeers a lift off the bench with 11 points.
Rowan Brumbaugh had 24 points and Supreme Cook added 15 points and 14 rebounds to lead Georgetown (9-20, 2-16), which lost for the 13th time in its last 14 games.
Jayden Epps had 20 points and seven assists for the Hoyas. Jay Heath contributed 14 points after being honored on Senior Night. Dontrez Styles added 12 points.
The Hoyas made 51.6 percent of their shots and went 13-of-25 (52 percent) from beyond the arc with Heath making 4 of 6 from deep.
In the first half, Georgetown had two spurts when it made three straight treys. In the first one, Heath drained back-to-back treys to cap an 11-point run that put the Hoyas up 23-11.
Later in the half, Wayne Bristol Jr. and Brumbaugh drilled 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cap a 12-2 run. Moments later, Heath swished a corner 3 that gave Georgetown its biggest lead of the half, 40-25.
Late in the period, Nemeiksa came off the bench and gave Xavier a lift with putbacks on back-to-back possessions as the Musketeers closed the gap at the break to 49-37.
Xavier opened the second half by applying more defensive pressure and it paid off. Claude drove for two layups, sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Olivari, as the Musketeers went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 49-44.
–Field Level Media