Quincy Olivari scored a team-high 27 points and added six rebounds to lead Xavier to a 92-91 win over visiting Georgetown on Friday night in a tense Big East battle in Cincinnati.
Freshman Dailyn Swain used a head fake to get to the basket and throw down a two-handed dunk with 30.2 seconds left to give Xavier (10-8, 4-3 Big East) a 92-91 lead.
Jay Heath missed a potential game-winning layup with six seconds left and Xavier’s Abou Ousmane (10 points, seven rebounds) grabbed the rebound to seal the win for the Musketeers.
Desmond Claude had 19 points and nine assists and Dayvion McKnight scored 18 points for Xavier, which won its fourth straight and 12th in 14 tries against Georgetown.
Jayden Epps scored a game-high 30 points and added 11 assists for Georgetown (8-10, 1-6).
Heath tallied 18 points, six rebounds and six assists and Dontrez Styles added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Georgetown, which lost its sixth game in seven tries. Supreme Cook had 13 points and eight boards.
Early on, Georgetown connected on three of its first four chances from 3-point range to take a 14-5 lead. Xavier, by contrast, missed its first five shots from beyond the arc.
The Hoyas opened up a 33-19 advantage on the strength of four consecutive made threes from Heath.
Olivari answered with two of his three first-half threes to help the Musketeers cut the lead down to 33-28, capping a 9-0 surge with a deep triple from the left side with 6:35 left in the first half.
Heath scored 13 points and Epps had nine points and seven assists to help the Hoyas to a 43-38 halftime lead.
Georgetown maintained a solid grip on the game early in the second half, using a 10-3 run to take a 56-44 lead on Dontrez Styles’ jumper with 16:42 left, prompting a timeout from Xavier coach Sean Miller.
Xavier, which has missed five straight shots, came out of the timeout scoring the next eight points.
Trailing 64-56, the Musketeers finally caught fire and went on a 13-2 run, taking their first lead of the game, 69-66, on Trey Green’s 3-pointer with 9:02 remaining.
The Hoyas moved back ahead by as many as five down the stretch before Swain’s go-ahead dunk.
–Field Level Media