Colby Jones scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Xavier Musketeers to a 95-63 romp over visiting Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
Zach Freemantle added 15 points and 12 rebounds and Souley Boum chipped in with 15 points for Xavier, which scored the game’s first seven points on its way to a 21-3 lead and never looked back to record its fifth win of the season.
The Musketeers (5-3) built their lead up to as many as 31 in the first half, 41-10, before the Lions finished on a 9-2 spurt to close the Xavier advantage to 43-19 at halftime.
Xavier’s defense smothered Southeastern Louisiana all night, holding the visitors to just seven made field goals on 29 shots and 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Jones, who scored 44 combined points in Xavier’s win over Florida and a loss to Gonzaga in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament, paced the Musketeers in the first half, scoring 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.
Southeastern Louisiana (4-4) was led by 16 points off the bench from Matthew Strange and 15 points from Boogie Anderson.
Freemantle, a senior forward, became the 58th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point career milestone with two made free throws with 15:57 remaining in the second half.
Wednesday’s matchup was just the second all-time between the two schools, with Xavier also winning the previous encounter, 91-75, at Cincinnati Gardens on Nov. 24, 1985.
Xavier moves on to play West Virginia at home on Saturday evening. West Virginia is coached by Bob Huggins, who was a nemesis of Xavier during his days as Cincinnati Bearcats coach in the 1990s and 2000s.
Southeastern Louisiana will stay in Southwest Ohio to play the Dayton Flyers in Dayton on Saturday before returning home for a contest against Belhaven on Dec. 7.
–Field Level Media