|
Zach Freemantle scored 16 points and Colby Jones added 15 points
for Xavier (21-13), which will face St. Bonaventure (23-9) in
one semifinal on March 29 in New York. Nate Johnson scored 12
points and Jack Nunge added 10 for the winners, who overcame a
nine-point deficit with six minutes left.
Paul Scruggs sat out with a knee injury suffered in Xavier's
victory over Florida on Sunday. Dwon Odom started in place of
Scruggs and had four points, four rebounds, four assists and two
turnovers in 29 minutes.
Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 28 points and had nine rebounds and
seven assists for the Commodores (19-17). Myles Stute added 12
points and Jordan Wright had 11.
Xavier trailed 66-57 with six minutes to go when it went on a
10-2 run and cut the deficit to 68-67 on a basket in the lane by
Johnson with 3:55 to go.
The Musketeers finally went ahead when Kunkel hit a baseline
jumper with 2:01 to go for a 71-70 lead. Wright made two foul
shots with 1:38 left to put the Commodores up, 72-71. Kunkel
made one of two foul shots with 1:28 left to tie the score at
72. Kunkel's driving layup with 57 seconds left broke a tie at
72.
Pippen missed a shot on Vandy's next possession. Vanderbilt had
another chance to tie, but Wright missed the front end of a
one-and-one with six seconds to go. Jones then split a pair of
foul shots with four seconds left, leaving the Musketeers ahead,
75-72.
Pippen was purposely fouled before he could attempt a 3-point
shot. He made the first free throw but missed the second,
leaving the Commodores behind, 75-73. But Vanderbilt forced a
turnover with exactly one second to go. However, a desperation
3-point heave missed.
Vanderbilt made its first three field-goal attempts of the
second half, part of a 10-2 run that put the Commodores ahead
41-31. Stute had two 3-pointers during the surge.
That began a pattern, as Vandy kept building leads, only to have
the Musketeers rally.
Xavier scored nine straight points and cut its deficit to 41-40
with 16:08 left on Jones' fast-break layup off a feed from Odom.
But the Commodores took a 46-40 lead, only to have Xavier tie it
at 46 on a 3-pointer by Cesare Edwards.
A 9-2 run capped by Pippen's fallaway jumper put Vandy ahead
58-52 with 9:01 left.
Xavier rallied from an early 8-1 deficit to quickly tie the
score at 10 and later opened a 23-17 lead on Jones' jumper in
the lane, which finished a 7-0 run.
But the Commodores eventually responded.
After Odom's fast-break layup, which was set up by Johnson's
steal, gave the hosts a 27-22 lead, Vanderbilt concluded the
first half with 9-2 spurt. Pippen had five points during the
run, including a trey with 26 seconds to go in the half to put
Vandy in front 31-29 at intermission.
--Field Level Media
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
