Zach Freemantle scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half as No. 21 Xavier held off visiting Butler 68-66 in a Big East game Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
Freemantle’s three-pointer capped a five-point possession that gave the Musketeers (16-5, 6-4 Big East) a 60-46 lead with six minutes left. Nate Johnson had made two free throws earlier in the possession after a technical foul was called on Butler’s Chuck Harris.
Harris and Jayden Taylor each scored 18 points and Aaron Thompson had 12 for the Bulldogs (11-11, 4-7), who cut Xavier’s lead to 65-61 on a three-point play by Taylor with 56 seconds to go. Freemantle sank two foul shots with 19 seconds left, but Simas Lukosius answered with an and-one basket for the Bulldogs to make it 67-63 with 12 seconds to go. He missed the foul shot, but got the offensive rebound.
But Harris missed a floater in the lane with three seconds left to end Butler’s hopes.
Paul Scruggs had nine points and five assists for Xavier, which shot 46.4 percent from the field and made 3 of 17 from 3-point range.
Butler shot 43.9 percent, including 7 of 22 from behind the arc.
Bryce Golden began the second half with a basket to trim Xavier’s lead to 29-28, but the Bulldogs’ offense sputtered after that. Xavier used a 14-2 run to go ahead 43-30 on Jerome Hunter’s driving layup with 13:33 left in the game.
Included in the spurt were two free throws by Johnson with 16:52 to go, putting the Musketeers ahead, 37-28. Those foul shots were assessed after Butler point guard Thompson, a grad student, was tied up by Freemantle. The possession arrow favored Xavier. In frustration, Thompson gave the ball to Johnson instead of an official, and appeared to say something to him.
With the score tied at 10 in the first half, Xavier went on a 12-2 run. First, after a fast-break layup by Jack Nunge, Adam Kunkel took an inbounds pass from Johnson and hit a baseline jumper while being fouled. He converted the free throw for a 15-10 lead with 10:05 left in the first half.
Freemantle followed with another old-fashioned three-point play, giving the Musketeers an 18-10 advantage. Freemantle later scored a basket to make it 22-12 before the Bulldogs responded with an extended 14-4 run, tying the score at 26 on Taylor’s straight-on 3-pointer with 54 seconds to go in the half.
Hunter responded with a trey to send the hosts into halftime with a 29-26 lead.
–Field Level Media