No. 22 Xavier halts losing streak

As the first half wound down, point guard Edmond Sumner headed to the end of the Xavier bench, sat down and winced. His left shoulder was hurting so bad.

Not bad enough to keep him from frustrating the Hoyas again.

Sumner led a second-half surge that swept No. 22 Xavier to an 86-75 victory over Georgetown on Sunday in Cincinnati, ending the Musketeers’ longest losing streak in three years.

Xavier (14-5, 4-3) had dropped three straight — all against ranked Big East teams. On Sunday, the Musketeers allowed a 12-point lead to slip away in the second half before their injured point guard frustrated the Hoyas (10-10, 1-6) for the second time this season. Sumner had a career-high 28 points in an 81-76 win at Georgetown on Dec. 31.

Sumner wore a support on his injured left shoulder and had trouble shooting layups with his left hand, leaving him in pain when he tried. Sumner made a pullup jumper, a three-point play and a pair of free throws during a 12-3 run that put Xavier in control 70-61. He finished with 14 points.

“I mean, he’s as tough as nails,” coach Chris Mack said. “He was really locked into what I was asking him to do. He’s banged up. He’s playing through it.”

Xavier hasn’t lost four in a row since the 1999-2000 season and was relieved to end its three-game slide.

“In this whole process, we’ve been saying, ‘Let’s get back to our winning ways, let’s get back to what we do best,’ ” said guard Malcolm Bernard , who had 12 points. “So I would say this feels really good, for sure.”

Trevon Bluiett led Xavier with 24 points. J.P. Macura added 20.

Rodney Pryor scored 23 for Georgetown, which lost for the sixth time in seven games.

A long time coming:

Scottie Lindsey scored 21 points and Bryant McIntosh had 17 as Northwestern (16-4, 5-2 Big Ten) won at Ohio State (12-8, 2-5) for the first time since Feb. 24, 1977. The Wildcats beat the Buckeyes 74-72 for a fourth straight win and are 5-2 in the Big Ten for first time since 1967-68.