Zach Freemantle scored 19 points and hauled in nine rebounds while Dailyn Swain added 17 to lead host Xavier to an 85-68 Big East win over injury-depleted DePaul Saturday in Cincinnati.
Swain added seven rebounds and eight assists while Ryan Conwell and Dayvion McKnight each had 14 points to lead a balanced attack for Xavier, which had all five starters score in double figures.
Xavier (16-10, 8-7) moved over .500 in conference play for the first time this season while completing a season series sweep of DePaul (11-15, 2-13).
CJ Gunn had 16 points and Layden Blocker added 12 for the Blue Demons, who fell for the 34th time in their last 36 Big East games. Including the conference tournament, the Blue Demons have tasted victory just six times in their last 54 Big East contests.
Playing without their leading rebounder in NJ Benson and their starting point guard Conor Enright — out for the season following shoulder surgery — the short-handed Blue Demons struggled to stay close in the first half.
Xavier opened the game on a 10-0 run and used another 10-0 run to widen their lead to 14 points, 32-18, with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Behind eight first-half points from Blocker, DePaul managed to cut the deficit to two, 12-10, and to four, 22-18, early in the opening half but could get no closer the rest of the game.
Field-goal shooting was the biggest difference in the first half as DePaul shot just 38.7 percent on 12-of-31 shooting, including just 5 of 17 from beyond the arc.
By contrast, Xavier was blistering for most of the opening 20 minutes, draining 14 of their first 21 attempts and finishing the half shooting 61 percent from the field to take a 45-31 halftime lead.
Xavier welcomed back three basketball stars of the past, as Jordan Crawford and Aaron Williams were inducted into the school’s hall of fame while Colby Jones of the NBA’s Washington Wizards sat courtside.
–Field Level Media
