On Wednesday, Feb. 23, The Saint Xavier men’s basketball team ended their season at home with a 44-46 playoff loss against Roosevelt University.
This game was a low scoring affair, but the Cougars held the lead for almost the entire game. The two teams would begin to trade leads late in the second half, until they were both tied at 44 points with less than two minutes left to play. The game would ultimately be decided at the very end, when Roosevelt hit a go-ahead jumper at the buzzer securing an upset victory over the Cougars.
The two main contributors for the Cougars were guards, Joshua Evans and Jaeden King. Evans finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds, while King added 14 points and nine rebounds of his own.
A rough shooting night from the Cougars would end up being the biggest factor that lost them this game. The Cougars shot just 30.6% from the field and went 15 of 49 on field goal attempts all night. Although the Cougars did manage to make more threes and free throws than Roosevelt, the team just could not hit shots consistently when they needed to.
With this loss, the Cougars were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament, and thus they will not be able to qualify for the larger National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament as well. This loss also means the end for much of the Cougars current roster, as they have eight senior players that will graduate after this semester is over. Saint Xavier men’s basketball is done for this season, but a new look Cougars team will be back for you to follow this upcoming fall.