Souley Boum scored 23 points and Colby Jones added 19 to lift No. 16 Xavier to an 82-60 victory over host Seton Hall on Friday in Newark, N.J.
Boum made 8 of 13 shots from the floor — including 5 of 8 from 3-point range — to help the Musketeers (21-8, 13-5 Big East) move past idle Providence and Creighton into sole possession of second place in the conference.
Adam Kunkel added 13 points before fouling out and Jerome Hunter collected 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for Xavier, which completed a season sweep of Seton Hall. The Musketeers posted a 73-70 win over the Pirates on Dec. 20.
Seton Hall’s Dre Davis scored 13 points in his return from a six-game absence due to an ankle injury. Jaquan Sanders had 11 points and Femi Odukale added nine for the Pirates (16-13, 9-9), who made just 25 percent of their 3-point attempts (5 of 20) en route to losing for the fourth time in the last five games.
Kadary Richmond sat out after sustaining a back injury in the first half of Seton Hall’s 64-55 setback at UConn on Saturday.
Both teams sputtered out of the blocks before Kunkel drained a 3-pointer to ignite Xavier’s 24-7 surge. Boum sank two 3-pointers and Jones also converted from beyond the arc during that spurt to give the Musketeers a 31-14 lead.
Boum drained his third 3-pointer and Hunter added a bucket with two seconds remaining to boost Xavier’s advantage to 40-21 at halftime.
Seton Hall countered by scoring 12 of the first 13 points of the second half before the Musketeers answered with a 16-1 run. Boum and Jones each scored five points during the sequence to give Xavier a 57-34 lead.
Tray Jackson made a layup and drained 3-pointer to highlight a 10-0 run by Seton Hall. The Musketeers, however, pushed their lead to 70-47 after Jones sandwiched a three-point play and a 3-pointer around Jack Nunge’s uncontested layup.
–Field Level Media
