National Basketball Association
Xavier 97, Alabama 84
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 6, 2014
Where: Cintas Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Officials:
# James Breeding, # Jeff Clark, # Joe Lindsay
Attendance:
10250
By SportsDirect Inc.
Xavier 97, Alabama 84: Myles Davis scored a career-high 18 points as the Musketeers prevailed against the visiting Crimson Tide.
J.P. Macura added 13 points and Jalen Reynolds had 12 for the Xavier bench, which outscored Alabama’s reserves 55-22. Remy Abell scored 12 points to lead the starters for the Musketeers, who had six players in double figures for the first time since February 2011.
Ricky Tarrant scored a season-high 23 points for Alabama (5-2). Levi Randolph, who came in averaging 19.5 points, didn’t take his first shot until early in the second half before ultimately finishing with 15 points and Shannon Hale scored 12 for the Crimson Tide.
Xavier was saddled with foul trouble in the first half, as leading scorer Matt Stainbrook committed two in the first two minutes and second-leading scorer Trevon Bluiett picked up his second with 6:33 remaining, joining Stainbrook on the bench for the remainder of the half. But the Musketeers got big first-half performances from Abell, who scored 11 in the opening 20 minutes, and Reynolds and Davis, who scored six apiece to help Xavier to a 41-30 lead.
Randolph took his first shot and sank the jumper with 17:21 left in the game to pull the Crimson Tide within 51-41. That was as close as they’d get as Macura converted a four-point play on Randolph’s third foul and the lead was 19 with 13:19 to play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Alabama, which came in leading the nation in free throw shooting percentage, finished 18-for-24 from the line. … Davis was 1-for-22 from 3-point range last season but is now 16-for-31 this season. … Xavier freshman F Sean O’Mara combined for four minutes in the previous three games but was pressed into action because of foul trouble to other forwards and scored four points on 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line in the first half.
Top Game Performances
Alabama |
|
Xavier |
Ricky Tarrant 23 |
Scoring |
Myles Davis 18 |
Rodney Cooper 4 |
Assists |
Dee Davis 8 |
Michael Kessens 5 |
Rebounds |
Jalen Reynolds 7 |
Levi Randolph 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Remy Abell 4 |
Rodney Cooper 1 |
Steals |
Dee Davis 2 |
Riley Norris 1 |
Blocks |
Remy Abell 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Alabama
|
84 |
52.8 |
10-23 |
18-24 |
16 |
21 |
1 |
6 |
17 |
Xavier
|
97 |
56.6 |
11-21 |
26-36 |
22 |
31 |
3 |
8 |
13 |