NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Desmond Claude scored 26 points and ninth-seeded Xavier earned a 76-72 victory over Butler in the opening round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Claude and the Musketeers (16-16) advance to the conference tournament quarterfinals against No. 1 seed UConn. Voted the league’s most improved player, Claude scored at least 25 for the fourth time this season and hit 11 of his 20 shots.
Xavier made winning plays down the stretch. The Musketeers led for the final 11:12 and pulled away in the final minutes, taking a 75-68 lead on Dayvion McKnight’s strong drive to the rim and bucket with 53 seconds left.
Butler had a chance thanks to DJ Davis’ 3, cutting the deficit to 75-71 with 45 seconds left.
Posh Alexander split a pair at the line with 13 seconds remaining. After Alexander missed the second free throw, Butler got the offensive rebound after a lengthy review. But Davis lost the ball in the lane with four seconds to go.
McKnight scored 16 of his 20 in the second half and Xavier shot 51.5 percent in the final 20 minutes and 46.3 percent overall. Quincy Olivari hit three of Xavier’s seven 3s and contributed 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Pierre Brooks scored 21 to lead Butler (18-14), which entered with a NET rating of 65 and likely needed at least one win in the tournament and some outside help to be invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Jalen Thomas and Posh Alexander, who appeared to suffer a scary right knee injury with about five minutes left in the first half, added 14 points apiece.
Xavier withstood Butler’s charge and held a 32-31 lead at halftime after Claude hit a floater in the lane with 28 seconds left.
After missing their first eight 3s, the Musketeers heated up with four 3s in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 46-43 lead on Claude’s triple just inside of the 16-minute mark.
Olivari’s 3 snapped a 54-54 tie with 11:12 left and his fastbreak layup made it 61-56 with 8:46 remaining.
–By Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media