Prudential Center—Souley Boum scored 23 points and Colby Jones chipped in 19 to help No. 16 Xavier (21-8, 13-5) beat Seton Hall (16-13, 9-9) 82-60 on Friday night at the Prudential Center in front of loud crowd of 10,481.
The Pirates were playing backwards in the opening minutes of the game, Xavier jumped on them from the door and were up 17-8 at the 10:18 mark. Seton Hall had to take a immediate timeout to settle down.
After a SHU timeout, the Pirates went over two minutes without scoring a basket and at the 5:32 mark they were down 26-12.
In the first half, Xavier shot 52% (15-29) from the floor and a scorching 60% (6-10) from beyond the arc. The Musketeers didn’t miss any open shots and Souley Boum led the way with 13 points going into the break.
The Pirates shot a dismal 26% (8-31) from the hardwood and 11% (1-9) from downtown in the first half, the Hall couldn’t buy a basket in the first half. They went into the break down 40-21.
In the second half, the Pirates jumped out the gate with a 9-0 run and trimmed the lead to 40-29 and forced the Musketeers to call a time out immediately but couldn’t cut the lead to single digits the rest of the way.
Despite making a few runs, Seton Hall couldn’t get out their own way by turning the ball over. At the 13:07 mark Seton Hall were down 53-33 and they had a problem closing out the shooters at the perimeter.
With the win, Xavier now trails the all-time series with the Pirates, 15-12.
Dre Davis scored 13 points with five boards. Jaquan Sanders, a freshman, came off the bench chipped in 11 points, equaling a career high.
The Musketeers out-rebounded the Pirates 42-27 for the game.
Up Next:
Xavier will be travel to face Providence on Wednesday March 1st for an 6:30 P.M showdown on FS1.
Seton Hall will be home to play Creighton on Thursday Feb. 8th for a 6:30 P.M. start time on FS1.
