X-Men Cruise Past Creighton
Souley Boum, the first team all-Big East guard, scored a game-high 23 points and the No.2 seed Xavier Musketeers handled the #.3 seed Creighton Bluejays 82-60 in the Big East semifinal round. Xavier advances to the championship game, their first appearance since 2015 where they lost to Villanova 69-52, to face the #1 seed Marquette Golden Eagles Saturday, March 11.
Xavier and Creighton split the regular season with each home team winning, but round III belonged to the Musketeers as they controlled the game going on a 40-21 run to end the first half after being down 5-0 in the early portions of the contest. Xavier, which had a 47.1 FG%, led by as many as 22 in the second half while forcing Creighton into 13 turnovers and a 37.5 FG%.
Sean Miller, head coach of Xavier, was pleased with the way his team came out to start the game. “I thought our team was really ready to play,” he began. “We obviously had a complete performance where l thought our defense was outstanding for most of the game. I thought really Souley Boum and Nunge, they really led the defensive charge.”
Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, also an all-Big East first teamer, led the Bluejays with 18 points in the defeat.
Creighton, denied of their third straight conference championship game appearance, finished the season with a 21-12 record, 14-6 in conference play, and is expected to receive an at-large bid for the Big Dance come Selection Sunday.
In other Big East news, St. John’s announced Friday that it is parting ways with Mike Anderson as their head coach.
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