PC Grabs Big Road Win, Beat Xavier 64-62
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The Friars looked like a top college team in the first half against Xavier on Wednesday night -- and then by the beginning of the second half, looked like they would give the game away. Xavier recovered from a PC 33-26 lead at the half to take a 41-40 lead over the Friars at the 13:32 mark of the second half. Xavier had all the momentum.
The game went back and forth straight to the final second — Xavier's Paul Scruggs had a wide-open shot at the buzzer to tie the game. He missed and the Friars escaped with a critical 64-62 road win.
The Friars are now 2-4 in the Big East and 12-7 overall.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCoach Ed Cooley said after the game, ”I think defensively we are playing some defense. This was the first time we ever won in this building."
The Friars forced 17 turnovers that lead to 18 fast-break points.
Second Half Chaos
The beginning of the second half was brutal for the Friars.
At the 13:32 mark of the second half, the Friars were down 40-41.
But, then the Friar bench took over. At the 10-minute mark of the second half, the Friars got a spark.
A monster fast-break dunk by PC’s Makai Ashton-Langford sparked the Friars and put them up 2 -- and followed with an alley-oop assist to Kalif Young to put the Friars up 4.
At the 6:49 mark left in the game the Friars went up 55 to 50.
Naji Marshall, Xavier’s star, returned to the game with just 7 points and 4 fouls with less than five-munges left. Marshall has been averaging 13.3 ppg.
At 3:35 left in the game the Friars jumped up to a 10-point lead 62-52, but then a Xavier 3-point by Ryan Welage and a Friar turnover swung the momentum again.
At 2:05 the Friars' lead shrunk to three points 62-59, and then Nate Watson got fouled on a drive and hit his third and fourth free throws of the game despite being just a 59 percent free throw shooter.
With just thirty-eight second left Xavier cut the Friar lead to 64-62. Then, off a timeout, Ashton-Langford got called for an offensive foul. With the ball and the momentum, Xavier turned it over and then fouled the Friars going the other way.
The ugly would not stop. the Friars turned over the ball and then Xavier traveled — all in five seconds.
Friar Notes:
PC Freshman David Duke scored just 2 points and struggled from the field.
The Friars was led by Isaiah Jackson who scored 13 points.
Xavier's Scrugg's had 14.
