NEWARK, New Jersey — The J.P. Macura game. That's how Xavier basketball's trip to Seton Hall this season will be remembered.
On the strength of one Macura's best performances of his senior season, the 11th-ranked Musketeers stole a victory from the 19th-ranked Seton Hall Pirates, 73-64, Saturday at the Prudential Center.
The win was Xavier's first-ever on Seton Hall's home court since joining the Big East Conference. It allowed the Musketeers to improve to 18-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big East.
For Seton Hall, it was their second-consecutive loss. The Pirates dropped to 15-5 and 4-3 in the Big East.
Macura scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to help Xavier dig out of 10-point deficit early in the second half.
He dove for loose balls and generally did everything Xavier needed on a day when the offense wasn't clicking for long stretches.
Despite the persistent jeers and chats by Seton Hall students directed at Macura, he punctuated the comeback in the closing minutes with a thunderous put-back dunk to silence the near-capacity crowd.
The Enquirer will update this report.
*** *** ***
Welcome to Cincinnati.com's and The Enquirer's live coverage of No. 11 Xavier University (17-3, 5-2 Big East) versus No. 19 Seton Hall University (15-4, 4-2) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Refresh this website for live updates and analysis from the The Enquirer's Xavier beat writer, Pat Brennan.
7:59, second half, Xavier leading, 52-51: Xavier hasn't trailed by any great sum today. The Musketeers' biggest deficit was 10 points early in the second half, but it's been the static and stagnant offense that's made them unconvincing. Still, a J.P. Macura 3-pointer has them leading coming down the home stretch. It's Xavier's first lead since the opening minute of the game. Macura has 18 points, which is a game-high.
11:33, second half, Seton Hall leading, 49-45: Maybe Xavier's going to hang on just long enough to steal one. It's a four-point game and the players look as engaged and active as they have all day in forcing Seton Hall to call a timeout.
J.P. Macura's grinding hard. He's on 15 points. A put-back by Trevon Bluiett that forced the Seton Hall timeout brought him up to eight points. It would be trademark Bluiett to burst through late and steal this game after having a mostly rough outing.
15:52, second half, Seton Hall leading, 44-37: Xavier come out of halftime slow and Seton Hall too easily was able to double its lead at 42-32 in less than three minutes. The Musketeers are somehow hanging tough, but the next run by the Pirates could be the one that puts this one away.
HALF: Seton Hall 35, Xavier 30 — Xavier is very fortunate to be down just five points at the break. They've been out-played slightly and the statistics certainly point to the fact that they should be down given that the Musketeers have been out-rebounded (21-15) out-shot (11 of 29 versus 15 of 32 for Seton Hall) and they've missed three of their seven free-throws.
Be all that as it may, leading Seton Hall scorer Desi Rodriguez will begin the second half with three fouls. He played just 10 minutes in the first half and the Pirates squandered the opportunity to bury the Musketeers while the visitors' offense sputtered. Khadeen Carrington ably filled in on the offensive end as he led the Pirates with 10 points.
J.P. Macura has been a pest for Xavier as he drew several of the fouls of Rodriguez and scored a team-high nine points.
3:07, 1H, Seton Hall leading, 25-22: You might describe the game as ugly at this point, but most importantly, it's a game that Xavier is still very much competing in. Seton Hall's on a scoring drought of about 3:30 and Xavier's closed its gap to just three points. J.P. Macura is leading the Musketeers with seven points.
7:55, 1H, Seton Hall leading, 20-16: A defensive slog has broken out at the Prudential Center. Xavier can't buy a good luck when they're on offense and Seton Hall, while still shooting 50 percent, has cooled off since considerably since leading at 17-10 earlier.
12:42, first half, Seton Hall leading: After a Naji Marshall 3-pointer opened the scoring for Xavier, Seton Hall went on a 15-2 run led by Desi Rodriguez's six points. The Musketeers are fighting for stops and are chasing the contest early.
Pregame: Xavier head coach Chris Mack will keep his starting lineup consistent for the third consecutive game. He'll start out with sophomore guard Quentin Goodin, senior guard Trevon Bluiett, graduate transfer Kerem Kanter, freshman forward Naji Marshall and senior guard J.P. Macura.