A season will bring highs and lows for any team and the Saint Xavier University men’s basketball team faced some adversity for the first time in this young season. The team recently had its first losing streak of the season dropping back-to-back games against No. 1 ranked Cardinal Stritch University and No. 16 ranked Arizona Christian University.
The back-to-back loses left a bad taste in the taste Cougars’ mouths but they found out all they needed was a little home cooking.
After winning their first four games of the season all by double-digits the team finally got a true test when they faced off against No. 1 ranked Cardinal Stritch on the road. It was a close but the Cougars could not overcome a bad shooting night and fell to their conference rival by a final score of 74-82.
SXU had a horrific night shooting the ball by only shooting 25 of 76 for only 32% from the field including 2 of 16 from beyond the arc. Despite the horrendous shooting the Cougars kept it close throughout the game by making 15 of 17 free throws in the first half. The Cougars were only down by five at halftime.
The game was close throughout the second half but Cardinal Stritch pulled away in the last minute to give the Cougars their first lost of the season. Senior Brad Karp finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds but only shot 11 of 27 from the field. Senior guard Michael Simpson only had 11 points against his former team and only made one shot on the night. CSU was led by junior guard Tony Smit who finished with 26 points including scoring the final 12 points for his team.
Next up after the frustrating loss was a date with No. 16 Arizona Christian University in Phoenix, Ariz. The team continued their poor shooting on the road and loss 76-83 to the Firestorm. SXU played well early on building 31-18 lead at one point but ASU made a run to take two-point lead at halftime.
The Firestorm dominated the second half and were up by 15 with a little over a minute to go but the Cougars would roar back. SXU cut the deficit to five points with only 30 seconds left in the game but ran out of time. Karp led the Cougars again with 27 points and Simpson finished with 23 points.
The team was ready for a home game after suffering their second consecutive loss. They took on No. 17 ranked Madonna University and showed how much they enjoyed playing back at home. Behind 56% shooting from the field the Cougars dominated Madonna University for a 91-78 victory.
Junior guard Jack Krieger played in his game for the Cougars this season after missing the first six games due to injury. Krieger finished with 19 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field including 3 of 6 from the three-point line. Karp had 27 points on 11 of 18 shooting from the field and 4 steals.
This past Saturday the Cougars took on Indiana University East in another home game. It went down to the wire but the Cougars survived to win by two on freshmen point guard Kyle Huppe’s game winning lay up with five seconds left to give the Cougars a 98-96 win.
The game was tied at 96 in the waning seconds when Krieger stole the ball from the Red Wolves and through a nice outlet pass to Huppe who laid it in to give the Cougars a two-point lead. The Red Wolves had one last chance to win the game but their final three-point attempt was off the mark giving SXU the slim victory.
Huppe did not have a good game shooting the ball finishing with only eight points but put in the huge clutch lay up. Krieger was the one who got the key steal and finished with 24 points in only his second game back.
Sophomore Josh Mawhorr had 12 points and a team high seven rebounds and Karp continued his stellar season with 30 points and five steals as the Cougars moved to 6-2 on the season.
The next home game is on Saturday Dec. 7 against Judson University. at 3pm in the Shannon Center.
Damone Griffin
Sports Editor