The Saint Xavier Men’s Basketball Team would try to pull off an upset against fourth ranked and our conference rivals, the Olivet Nazarene Tigers.
The Cougars were going into this game coming off of a brutal 15 point loss against Governor’s State where the Cougars struggled with turning the ball over.
The Cougars started the game strong, going back and forth with Olivet Nazarene for the first eight minutes of the game, even leading the game 6-7 and then the Tigers woke up.
For the next five minutes Olivet Nazarene would control the game going on a 13-5 run. This dominant play would continue for most of the first half and they found themselves up by 14 points with 2 minutes left. The Cougars were not done fighting back yet however, and they would battle back for the next two minutes and end the half only down eight points.
The second half would be a disaster for SXU from start to finish. Olivet Nazarene would open up the half scoring 20 straight points. This would give the Tigers and insurmountable 28 point lead.
Olivet Nazarene would not surrender their double digit lead for the rest of the game and would end up beating Saint Xavier by a score of 79-56.
This loss makes the Cougars fall to a record of 14-7 and gives them a conference record of 9-5. Saint Xavier now falls three games behind the current conference leaders Holy Cross and Olivet Nazarene.
There were many reasons for Saint Xavier’s struggles on Saturday, but the main cause of the loss is that SXU could not buy a shot on Saturday. The Cougars went an awful 19 for 69 from the field, shooting at 27%. The percentages are even worse from the 3 point line where the Cougars shot at 16% going 3 for 19.
Saint Xavier also struggled from the charity strike. The Cougars shot 60% from the free throw line on 25 shots.
Despite the loss, there were still some impressive performances by players on Saint Xavier. The Cougars was led in scoring by Calvin Payawal who dropped 14 points for SXU off the bench and even added five rebounds.
Josh Niego and Jeffery Mayberry also both finished the game in double figures and Niego also led the team in rebounds with seven.
Another positive that could be taken away from the game Saturday is the lack of turnovers from SXU. Going into this game, the Cougars really struggled with turnovers, and have had three straight games with 16 or more turnovers.
However on Saturday, Saint Xavier was able to limit the number of turnovers down to seven. If this continues to get better, SXU will surely start winning more games.
This week the Cougars will try to end their losing streak at the Shannon Center on Wednesday at 7 against Judson University before going back on the road on Saturday where they will play the Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Indiana at 3.