The Saint Xavier men’s basketball team has won 14 consecutive games since suffering their only two losses of the season back-to-back.
As of the Jan. 14 Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, the No. 4-ranked Cougars were enjoying their highest ranking since February of the 2003 season.
Since their losses to then No. 1 Cardinal Stritch (now No. 2) and No. 16 Arizona Christian, the Cougars have been nothing short of spectacular, though that distinction has come by way of some squeakers as well as some blowouts.
The Cougars came as close as they could to losing a game without doing so on Saturday at Olivet Nazarene University. They had to claw their way back from a four-point halftime deficit to beat the Tigers 68-67.
After shooting just 37.5% from the field in the first half, Saint Xavier stormed back with a 52.6% mark in the second half.
The Tigers enjoyed their largest lead of the game at the 15:21 mark of the second half. Up 46-35, Olivet Nazarene’s lead slowly began to slip away.
Senior Brad Karp, playing as a forward, tied it at 48-48 with 11:06 left in the game with a steal-and-score. He was fouled on the basket and gave Saint Xavier a brief lead when he completed the three-point play.
The Tigers quickly erased that lead, however, and Saint Xavier would not lead again until junior guard Jack Krieger hit a three-pointer with 1:32 remaining to put his team up 66-64.
After Karp hit a free throw, 6-7 sophomore guard-forward hybrid Aaron Larson hit a three-point shot to tie the game up at 67-67 with just 46 seconds left.
In those remaining seconds, Karp was fouled twice. He made the first of those four free-throw attempts to go up 68-67. He then missed the remaining three, the last one on purpose to run out the clock.
Krieger was the clear leader for the Cougars, finishing the game with a career-high 31 points and going nine-of-20 from the field.
Of those field goals, five were of the three-point variety.
Karp, who broke the school career scoring record in the first half of a game on Jan. 11 against Indiana University-South Bend, was one of two other players to score in the double-digits.
He finished with 15 points, picking up seven of them from the free-throw line, including the game-winner. Senior guard Michael Simpson was good for 11 points in the nail-biter.
The Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 36-27, but the Cougars managed to keep their fouls to a minimum, allowing only nine free-throw attempts to Olivet Nazarene.
The Cougars, who are accustomed to threatening the 100-point threshold in just about every game, failed to reach the 70-point mark for just the second time this season. The previous instance was in a 68-63 victory at Roosevelt University on Dec. 19.
After the Roosevelt game, the Cougars hosted the Saint Xavier Midwest Tournament during the winter break.
They began with a 108-79 defeat of Goshen College on Dec. 21. They then advanced to the tournament’s final game behind a 99-73 win over then No. 21-ranked Saint Ambrose University (now No. 23).
The tournament championship matchup pitted the Cougars against the then (and still) No. 14-ranked Bellevue University Bruin Bears.
That game was by far the closest of the tournament contests that the Cougars played, winning the tournament championship 85-76.
The Cougars would not win by any fewer than nine points in any of the next four games, until the contest against Olivet Nazarene rolled around.
Saint Xavier’s next game is tonight at Bob Hallberg Court in the Shannon Center.
They play Calumet College of St. Joseph at 7 p.m., and the radio broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3 FM and sxustudentmedia.com.
The Cougars play again on Saturday against their in-state rivals, the University of Saint Francis.
That game will begin at 3 p.m., and that radio broadcast will also be available on WXAV and online.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor