Tre Carroll scored a career-high 30 points with seven rebounds to lead host Xavier past Cincinnati 79-74 in another intense Crosstown Shootout rivalry game Friday night in Cincinnati.
Xavier led by 13 with 12 minutes remaining but Cincinnati rallied. Jalen Celestine drained a three with 2:39 left to give Cincinnati a 68-67 lead. Filip Borovicanin answered 14 seconds later with a three from the right wing to put the Musketeers (7-3) ahead for good at 70-68.
Carroll then drove the baseline for a reverse layup to put Xavier up four en route to its fourth straight victory. Borovicanin and Jovan Milicevic each added 12 points for the Musketeers, which won for the sixth time in seven meetings between its crosstown rival while Cincinnati lost its 11th straight at Cintas Center.
Shon Abaev had 16 points to lead Cincinnati (6-3) while Day Day Thomas added 15. The Bearcats were victimized by their own poor free-throw shooting, missing 11 of 22 attempts.
Moustapha Thiam’s dunk 37 seconds into the second half gave Cincinnati a 39-37 lead. Xavier answered with the next 13 points to take a 50-39 lead, with Carroll accounting for 10 points.
Milicevic and Roddie Anderson III hit back-to-back threes to give Xavier its biggest lead at 56-43 with 12:21 left in regulation.
Cincinnati rallied with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 58-52 on a Jalen Celestine three with 8:20 left. Kerr Kriisa (10 points) drained a three with 4:47 left to lower Xavier’s lead to 65-63.
Carroll answered again with a layup but couldn’t convert the free throw and the lead stood at 67-63 with just under four minutes left.
The Musketeers led by six twice more before Cincinnati rebounded and took a 37-35 lead late in the first half on a Kriisa three. Carroll connected on a jumper to tie the game and both teams were scoreless for the final 1:53 of the first half.
In the first half, Cincinnati made just 6 of 18 shots from beyond the arc while Xavier was even colder, missing 13 of 16 shots from long distance.
Xavier won five straight in the rivalry before Cincinnati snapped the streak last season. Cincinnati was denied back-to-back wins in the series for the first time since January 1995 and January 1996.
