Swain Dunks the Musketeers to Victory in the Last Few Seconds Over Hoyas 92-91
(Photo by Bob Stevens)
"That's Big East Basketball at its best." Georgetown Hoyas Head Coach Ed Cooley said after Friday Night's game at the Cintas Center as his team fell just short against Sean Miller and the Xavier Musketeers.
Xavier led during Friday's game for a total of 1:21, and were -11 in second chance points but yet somehow, they won.
Georgetown got a huge game from sophomore transfer Jayden Epps who had his first double-double of the year with 30 points and eleven assists. Jay Heath also had a great performance for the Hoyas with 18 points and was 4-8 from three. Georgetown shot 20-21 from the foul line through the game and were 8-10 from three in the first half before going just 3-12 in the second.
On the Xavier end as mentioned, it was a battle. With 16 minutes remaining in the game the Musketeers were facing a 56-44 deficit before going on an 8-0 run to make it a four-point game.
After Jayden Epps hit a few baskets, Xavier was struggling to make field goals but kept being aggressive attacking the rim and drawing fouls to get to the line. Anytime Xavier made a run, Georgetown had a quick answer to extend their lead until Trey Green hit a big three pointer with nine minutes remaining giving Xavier their fist lead of the game.
𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 3️⃣. 𝐗𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒. pic.twitter.com/RvXerryOVY
— Xavier Basketball (@XavierMBB) January 20, 2024
Georgetown was able to get the lead back a few moments later, but Xavier kept on fighting, and with two minutes left once again got the game back to a one-point difference after a Desmond Claude jumper.
Epps made two free-throws for the Hoyas with 1:19 to go, which ended up being Georgetowns final two points of the game. Claude hit another shot for Xavier with 1:06 left. After Epps missed the layup for Georgetown, the Musketeers got the ball back which led to Dailyn Swain getting his first major welcome to College Basketball moment.
As Desmond Claude was driving he threw the pass over to Swain. Swain caught the ball looking to shoot a three and got Dontrez Styles to jump in the air on a pump fake. Once Styles was in the air Swain attacked the rim and threw down a two-handed jam giving Xavier the 92-91 lead with thirty seconds left.
𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 🚂 pic.twitter.com/vwq3dYvynC
— Xavier Basketball (@XavierMBB) January 20, 2024
After Ed Cooley called a timeout the Hoyas put the ball back in Jayden Epps hands looking to win the game on the final possession. As Epps crossed the half-court line Desmond Claude was waiting. After dribbling to run the clock down, Swain had a perfect Blitz toward Epps forcing him to pass the ball to Jay Heath who missed the go-ahead shot giving Xavier a huge win.
After the game Sean Miller spoke about the final decision on defense to attack Epps and force the ball out of his hands.
"We have a call for that, and we do it, it's this simple. We've watched him (Epps) make a lot of shots, we're having a hard time guarding him. In this last possession we might not win but he's not shooting. Someone else is."
Key game takeaways:
(Photo by Bob Stevens)
-Quincy Olivari once again delivers for the Musketeers. Friday night, Olivari scored 27 points, keeping Xavier alive as they kept trying to pull away. This is Olivari's fourth game of the season with 25+ points scored.
(Photo by Bob Stevens)
-Desmond Claude was an assist short of a double-double during Friday night's game scoring 19 points and picking up nine assists.
-Xavier has now won three-straight games and also played their fourth game in nine days.
Current standing and next game:
Xavier is now 10-8 on the season and 4-3 in conference play tied for fourth place in the Big East with Creighton and St. John's. The Musketeers next game will be Tuesday, Jan 23rd in Omaha, NE facing the Creighton Blue Jays for the first time this season. Tip-Off will be at 8:30 PM EST.