NCAA Tournament: Xavier rallies past Texas in First Four game

DAYTON, Ohio — Marcus Foster scored 22 points and Zach Freemantle added 15 while overcoming foul trouble as Xavier rallied past Texas, 86-80, in a First Four game of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday night.

The Musketeers (22-11) erased a 13-point deficit in their biggest comeback win of the season and advanced to play No. 6 seed Illinois on Friday night in a Midwest Region game at Milwaukee.

“That’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “I thought we beat an excellent Texas team. They are disciplined. They have depth and talent. We knew it was going to be a great challenge to beat a really good team from the SEC. I’m really proud of our team.”

Tre Johnson led the Longhorns (19-16) with 23 points in a matchup of No. 11 seeds. Tramon Mark scored 16.

Freemantle hit a turnaround jumper to break a 78-all tie with 1:48 remaining and his two free throws extended Xavier’s lead to 82-79 with 1:09 left. Johnson missed a fadeaway jumper, and Dailyn Swain’s putback of Freemantle’s 3-point miss upped the margin to five with 20 seconds to play.

Chendall Weaver made one of two free throws for Texas before Freemantle’s dunk sealed it. Xavier closed the game on a 16-6 run over the final six minutes.

Freemantle arrived at Xavier in 2019. He sat out last season because of injury and returned for a fifth season of competition with the hope of playing in his first NCAA Tournament.

“Storybook, maybe not,” he said. “Obviously, we would have liked to maybe win by a little more. But any win we can get is a great thing. It was a very hard-fought game. That’s a very good team we just played, and I’m just thankful to be a part of it.”

Foster shot 8 for 9 from the field, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range, and finished with eight rebounds.

Freemantle, who averaged 19.8 points during the Musketeers’ seven-game winning streak to close the regular season, had two points and two fouls in the first half. He picked up his fourth foul with 7:10 left.

Texas led 47-39 at halftime. It was the first time Xavier trailed at the break since a Jan. 29 loss at Creighton.

“I thought we had one of our better first halves of the year,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “Give them credit. They made big plays, big shots, and finished the game down the stretch.”

The Musketeers were down by 13 in the first half and still trailed by 10 with 16 minutes remaining. Jerome Hunter’s 3-pointer tied the score at 65-all with eight minutes left.

A 3-pointer by Oklahoma transfer John Hugley put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 5:07 to go.

It was the fourth time since 1990 the programs have met in the NCAA Tournament, with each school winning twice.

The Longhorns took advantage of early foul trouble for Xavier and got to the rim at will in the first half, scoring 26 of their 47 points in the paint. The Musketeers adjusted defensively and allowed only 10 points in the paint after halftime.

What changed?

“I would just say our defensive intensity, getting more deflections,” Foster said. “When we get deflections, it’s hard to beat us. So we really just locked in on that. We understood that we really didn’t have much of a problem on offense, but a problem on defense. Once we addressed that, things started to go our way.”

University of Dayton Arena is located about an hour’s drive from Xavier’s campus, resulting in a partisan Musketeers crowd. Dayton playing in the NIT on Wednesday night gave Xavier fans an opportunity to scoop up more seats.

“Our fans certainly took advantage of the proximity to Cincinnati,” Miller said. “And that emotion when we needed them, it was certainly a factor in the game.”

The Longhorns kept them quiet for much of the game, until the Musketeers rallied.

“I wish we would have had more Dayton fans than Xavier fans,” Terry said.

In the early game …

Mount St. Mary’s 83, American 72: Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilla each scored 22 points as Mount St. Mary’s won the matchup of No. 16 seeds that saw American lose its leading scorer to an injury early.

The Mountaineers (23-12) earned a date with No. 1 seed Duke on Friday in an East Region game at Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Today when we walked out there for the national anthem, it was a little bit of a holy cow moment for me,” Mountaineers coach Donny Lind said. “Now to get to move on with this group and let them keep playing and to go down to Raleigh and play Duke is awesome. We’ve got to get ready and give them everything we’ve got.”

Geoff Sprouse led American (22-13) with 18 points on six 3-pointers off the bench. Elijah Stephens scored 12.

“This is going to hurt for a while, but I’m going to flip the page,” Eagles coach Duane Simpkins said. “We’ve got six very good freshmen coming in, and we’re going to start to develop a game plan of how to get better. We’ll be back.”

American leading scorer Matt Rogers injured his right knee four minutes into the game.

Rogers attempted to play through the pain, but with 5:28 remaining in the first half he fell to the court, was helped off and did not return. Rogers, who averages 17 points per game, finished with seven points in eight minutes. He watched the second half from the bench on crutches.

“Yeah, I feel terrible for him,” Lind said. “His versatility really stood out, and his will. He plays really, really hard. He’s emotional in a great way for their team.”

Both teams were shooting better than 60% and went a combined 8 of 19 from 3-point range through the first 10 minutes. Dallas Hobbs beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to put Mount St. Mary’s ahead 48-38 at halftime.

Hobbs finished with 17 points.

“I was nervous,” Hobbs said. “It’s safe to say this was the biggest game I’ve played in in my life.”

Mount St. Mary’s was missing leading 3-point shooter Carmelo Pacheco, who hasn’t played since breaking a finger in the regular-season finale.

But the Mountaineers stayed hot from long range in the second half. Malcolm Dread’s 3-pointer put them ahead 64-51 with 11:26 left.

“Obviously, offense was clicking pretty well for us,” Lind said. “But credit to American. They battled the whole time, obviously with losing (Rogers) early, but they showed no letup.”

Mount St. Mary’s improved to 3-6 in the NCAA Tournament. Up next, the ACC champion Blue Devils.

“It means a lot to the university,” Hobbs said. “As far as playing Duke next, our mentality is the same thing, just going in and following the game plan, follow what Coach says, and hopefully go out there and get a win.”