Zach Freemantle scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the first half and added 10 rebounds to lead Xavier over visiting Morgan State 119-58 on Tuesday night in Cincinnati.
The 61-point blowout is a new record for margin of victory in Xavier program history, breaking the previous mark of 58 set in a 110-52 win over District of Columbia on Jan. 15, 1990.
Freemantle added four assists for Xavier (8-2), which had its final tune-up before its annual crosstown rivalry showdown with No. 22 Cincinnati on Saturday.
Marcus Foster hit 4-of-6 3-point attempts, adding 18 points, and Ryan Conwell chipped in with 15 for Xavier, which fell just six points shy of the school-record point total in a 125-84 win over Florida International on Jan. 9, 1988.
Xavier was red-hot from 3-point range, draining 12 of 18, and shot a sizzling 60 percent (41 of 68) from the field. Morgan State made 2-of-10 3-point attempts and shot 22 for 61 (36. 1 percent) from the field.
Amahrie Simpkins scored 13 points and Kameron Hobbs had 11 points for the Bears (5-8), who are 0-6 on the road this season.
Xavier bounced back from a 76-72 loss at TCU on Thursday and next face three straight ranked opponents. Following Saturday’s game vs. Cincinnati, the Musketeers open their Big East schedule at two-time defending national champion No. 18 UConn on Dec. 18 and battle No. 6 Marquette at home on Dec. 21.
Xavier dominated the boards 54-25 and outscored the Bears 56-30 in the paint.
With Xavier leading 9-5 three minutes in, the Musketeers blew the game open with a 29-6 spurt that included a 13-0 run. The Muskateers shot 61.3 percent from the field in the first half and led 52-24 at the break. Meanwhile, the Bears hit just 32.3 percent of their first-half shots from the field.
Cam’Ron Fletcher drained a 3 with 3:55 remaining to balloon Xavier’s lead to 109-48.
–Field Level Media
