Xavier gets Sweet revenge
ORLANDO, Fla. — Xavier had a score to settle.
Not with Florida State, which the Musketeers dispatched, 91-66, in Saturday night’s NCAA Tournament second-round game at the Amway Center to advance to the Sweet 16 in the West Region next week in San Jose. Xavier had a score to settle with itself. A year ago in this same second round of the NCAAs, Xavier lost as a No. 2 seed in the final seconds to No. 7 seed Wisconsin, 66-63, and that result has stuck with the players and coaches like a lingering winter cold that never goes away.
Perhaps after Saturday night’s victory the demons from that loss finally have been exorcized.
Xavier, an 11 seed this year, came out of the gate with a purpose against No. 3 seeded Florida State en route to its sixth Sweet 16 appearance in the past 10 years.
After the teams traded baskets for the first five-plus minutes, the Musketeers raced to a 12-0 run to open a 25-10 lead. They had the Seminoles staggered, but not completely out on their feet.
Florida State star guard Dwayne Bacon, who scored 10 of his 20 points in the first half, played like he refused to allow his team to be blown out early. He sparked a 12-3 FSU run that shaved the Xavier lead to 27-22 with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes’s bucket cut the Xavier lead to 30-26 with 4:00 remaining in the first half. Xavier, though, would again pull away in the final minutes of the half, going on a 14-8 run to take a 44-34 lead into halftime.
Xavier (23-13), as it was in its firstround win, was led by big man Sean O’Mara, who came off the bench to score 11 points and dish out three assists. Thanks in large part to O’Mara’s contribution, the Xavier bench outscored the FSU bench 16-2 in the first 20 minutes.
Trevon Bluiett, Xavier’s leading scorer, scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half.
Xavier, which is now 7-1 this season on neutral sites (including 5-0 in Orlando), did a masterful job of not letting Florida State back into the game in the second half.
A damaging sequence for the Seminoles took place when Macura and Kaiser Gates hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Xavier a 61-45 lead at the 11:53 TV timeout. The Musketeers then scored the first five points out of the timeout to take a 66-45 lead and the rest of the game morphed into garbage time.