Xavier Stuns No. 9 Creighton

According to many college basketball “experts”, the Xavier Musketeers were a bubble-team for the NCAA Tournament, in need of another big win to add to their tournament resume.

The Musketeers were presented with a fabulous opportunity to pick up that big win tonight as they were playing host to the ninth ranked team in the nation, the Creighton Blue Jays. The Muskies and Jays met once previously this season where the Jays picked up a 95-89 win in Omaha.

It was a different story this time, maybe it was because it was a home game for X, maybe because it was the highest-attended game in the history of the Cintas Center, maybe it was because former Musketeer Brad Redford hit a mid-court shot, or maybe it was because of the great performances from Justin Martin and Semaj Christon. Whatever it was, the Muskies were able to win the game, 75-69.

Justin Martin had the best game of his career, he had 19 points and a whopping 16 rebounds; not everyday statistics for the junior forward from Indianapolis.

Semaj Christon also had a fantastic game, he lead Xavier with 21 points, Dee Davis added 15 points for the ‘Eers.

Chris Mack has to be pleased with the way his team played on defense. Thanks in large-part to Doug McDermott, the Blue Jays are a fantastic scoring team, averaging 81 points per game. But today the Jays were held to only 69 points. McDermott did get his points though, he collected 27 of them, along with 10 boards. But that’s nothing to be saddened by, McD leads college basketball in scoring and will likely be a first round pick in the NBA Draft this summer.

With the win, the Musketeers pick up their 20th win of the season and improve their record to 20-9. The Blue Jays will likely drop out of the top 10 and their record falls to 23-5.

Xavier’s next game is Monday as they travel to New Jersey to take on Seton Hall. That game will begin at 7 o’clock and will be televised on Fox Sports 1. After that game the Muskies will return home for their regular season finale and will play host to  No. 8 Villanova; that game will be Thursday, also at 7 and on Fox Sports 1.

@CoopLed