Field Level Media
Dec 9, 2020
Zach Freemantle scored a career-high 28 points to lead Xavier to a 99-77 win over Oklahoma at home Wednesday night.
Freemantle hit four 3-pointers as the Musketeers set a program record with 19 3-pointers.
Fremantle was far from the only Xavier player to turn in a big offensive night.
Nate Johnson added 25 points and Paul Scruggs 20 in the win. Johnson was 7 of 9 from behind the arc. Scruggs had eight of Xavier's 28 assists, adding four rebounds and three steals.
The Musketeers shot 57.1 percent from the floor and were even better from behind the 3-point line, shooting a season-high 59.4 percent from distance. The previous Musketeers record for 3-pointers in a game was 16, reached three times, the last in 2007-08.
Xavier (7-0) finished the first half with a 14-4 run to take a nine-point lead into the break at 48-39. The Musketeers stretched the lead to 19 early in the second half before the Sooners climbed back into it after a hot stretch by Victor Iwuakor.
Iwuakor's back-to-back buckets off turnovers cut the lead to 69-59 with 10:59 remaining. But Xavier ripped off a 13-3 run, punctuated by a pair of Johnson 3-pointers, over the next four minutes to firmly regain control and put the game away.
The Musketeers hit 11 3-pointers after the break, with Johnson hitting all five shots he took from behind the arc.
Brady Manek added 17 points for Oklahoma, hitting three 3-pointers, but outside of Manek the Sooners were 3 of 14 from behind the arc.
Four other players scored in double figures for the Sooners (2-1). That group included Iwuakor, who was 5 for 8 from the floor with 10 points. All of those came after halftime as he made his season debut in the second half after missing the first two games due to COVID-19 issues.
While the Musketeers heated up from 3-point range in the second half, the Sooners went cold, going just 1 of 7 from deep after the break.
--Field Level Media