National Basketball Association
Xavier 75, Georgia St 67
When: 6:10 PM ET, Saturday, March 21, 2015
Where: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida
Officials:
# Lee Cassell, # Don Daily, # Jamie Luckie
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
Xavier 75, Georgia State 67: Jalen Reynolds scored a career-high 21 points and the Musketeers shot a season-high 67.6 percent from the field to hold off the Panthers in the third round of the NCAA Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.
Reynolds went 8-of-9 from the field as sixth-seeded Xavier (23-13) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past eight seasons and face second-seeded Arizona in the West Regional semifinals Thursday in Los Angeles. Myles Davis hit a career high-tying five 3-pointers en route to 17 points and Dee Davis added 15 points.
R.J. Hunter scored 20 points for the 14th-seeded Panthers (25-10), who hit 56.5 percent of their shots from the floor but were outrebounded 23-12. Markus Crider added 10 points before fouling out with 2:24 remaining and Georgia State forced 14 turnovers two days after stunning Baylor in the second round.
Xavier led by as many as 11 in the first half and weathered a Georgia State surge, with Reynolds’ dunk on the half’s final possession giving the Musketeers a 32-28 halftime advantage. The Panthers tied the game on Crider’s basket with just over 15 minutes left, but Myles Davis’ 3-pointer and Reynolds’ dunk finished a 7-0 spurt to put the Musketeers up 45-38.
Myles Davis’ fourth 3-pointer pushed the Xavier cushion to 54-44 with 8:13 to play, but Hunter’s triple and two free throws brought Georgia State within 57-53 with 5:05 remaining. Reynolds muscled home a shot in the lane to extend the lead to six, while Myles Davis’ final 3 with 1:32 to go gave Xavier a 67-57 advantage.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Xavier finished 22-of-25 from the free-throw line, while Georgia State shot 9-of-13. … The Musketeers outrebounded the Panthers 17-5 in the opening half, but Georgia State scored 10 points off nine turnovers. … Georgia State G Ryan Harrow, the team’s second-leading scorer, scored six points while playing sparingly after missing the past two games with a hamstring injury.
Top Game Performances
Georgia St |
|
Xavier |
R.J. Hunter 20 |
Scoring |
Jalen Reynolds 21 |
R.J. Hunter 5 |
Assists |
Dee Davis 5 |
R.J. Hunter 4 |
Rebounds |
Jalen Reynolds 6 |
R.J. Hunter 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Dee Davis 8 |
Isaiah Dennis 3 |
Steals |
Dee Davis 2 |
R.J. Hunter 1 |
Blocks |
Sean O'Mara 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Georgia St
|
67 |
56.5 |
6-14 |
9-13 |
17 |
11 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
Xavier
|
75 |
67.6 |
7-13 |
22-25 |
13 |
23 |
2 |
3 |
14 |