CINCINNATI — Zach Freemantle scored 17 points, Dayvion McKnight scored 13 of his 14 in the second half and Trey Green made 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 12 seconds to help No. 22 Xavier hold on for a 71-68 win over South Carolina State on Sunday night.
Xavier (7-1) opened the season with six consecutive wins before a 78-53 loss to Michigan on Thursday in the championship game at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
Xavier used a 14-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 58-45 when Jerome Hunter, who finished with 10 points, made a layup with 5:38 remaining. The Bulldogs scored the next 12 points, capped when Omar Croskey hit a 3-pointer and followed with a dunk that made it a one-point game about 3 minutes later.
The Musketeers made 10 of 12 from the free-throw line from there to seal it.
Croskey scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half for South Carolina State (4-5), Michael Teal finished with 14 and Mitchell Taylor added 11 — nine after halftime.
Xavier committed six turnovers (including a shot-clock violation) — which led to seven South Carolina State points — as the Bulldogs jumped to an 18-11 lead when Davion Everett made a layup with 10:31 left in the first half that capped a 13-0 run. Xavier scored 21 of the next 25 points, including seven by Freemantle, to make it 32-22 after Marcus Foster hit a 3-pointer about 9 minutes later.
Zach Freemantle moved past Joe Viviano, who scored 1,338 points for Xavier from 1956-59, into 24th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,352 — 32 behind Jeff Jenkins (1980-84).
South Carolina State: The Bulldogs play host to Samford on Thursday.
Xavier: The Musketeers hit the road to play Thursday at TCU.
