The St. Xavier men’s basketball team began their season this past weekend, taking on Marian University and Grace College. Unfortunately for the Cougars, their season has not begun as they had hoped.
Their first game took place at Marian University (No. 14) where star senior guard, Jaeden King, nailed four of five threes and scored a team high twenty points in the blowout loss 92-64.
SXU struggled shooting from the floor, making just 40% of their attempts.
The cougars trailed by eight points after the first half (47-39), but only mustered up 25 points in the second to MU’s 45.
It didn’t help Saint Xavier’s efforts that only two of their starters hit double digits in points.
After a promising first half against No. 8 Grace College with a score of 36-31 (SXU trailing), the light quickly dimmed as Grace College outscored the Cougars by nineteen in the second half.
Once again, SXU struggled shooting from the floor, making a little under 30% on their attempts.
None of the Cougar starters broke 10 points, seniors TJ Babikir and Tino Sebalj both had nine points.
Junior forward, Kevin Bishop, came alive in the second half for SXU, scoring 12 points off the bench and finishing the game with 18 points.
It’s clear that if the Cougars have aspirations of going far this season they need some serious changes. Especially with shot consistency from starters.
Although very early in the season, SXU has struggled mightily to hit routine shots from the floor, and has gotten bodied rebounding the ball.
Despite the big losses, this team has played very tough competition. It’s never easy beginning a season playing two ranked opponents, so there is certainly an opportunity for this team to be more successful in the coming weeks.
How will this team respond to the two early defeats? Only time will tell, but we hope they can turn it around fast.
Their next set of games takes place this coming week, with back to back games on Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5 for the Troll Classic in Palos Heights, IL. Friday’s game is scheduled for 6p and Saturday’s tip-off will be at 12p.
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