If it seems like it's becoming a theme that's because it is.
Thursday night was another chapter in the ongoing legacy of Xavier's Paul Scruggs. It was the type of moment Scruggs wanted when he announced he was returning for a fifth season, and in front of a sold-out Cintas Center crowd, the 6-foot-5 super senior from Indianapolis handed Xavier fans a win that was 14 years in the making.
With Xavier nursing a 63-59 lead and just over 90 seconds left, Scruggs scored Xavier's last eight points to help the Musketeers hold on for a 71-65 win over No. 19 Ohio State in a game that Xavier never trailed.
"My team believed in me," said Scruggs. "And I didn't do nothing for the whole game so I had to figure out something to do."
A closer doesn't mind the circumstances or the magnitude of the moment, all that mattered to Scruggs was winning, so that's what he did.
During an Ohio State timeout, Xavier head coach Travis Steele said, "I gave them both a man play and a zone play, figured they might go zone. We'd been saving that play for kind of towards the end of the game. And both plays were for Paul ... and our guys executed beautifully."
The first play out of the timeout, Scruggs got downhill with his left hand and finished at the rim.
At the other end of the floor, Ohio State star E.J. Liddell poured in a 3-pointer that cut Xavier's lead to 65-62 with 46 seconds left.
That's about when Scruggs tore the roof off Cintas Center. After a successful drive the last time down the floor, Scruggs did it again, but this time he didn't lay it off the glass, he went up and threw home a thunderous left-handed dunk right on top of Liddell, who was all over the rim all night with eight blocked shots.
"It felt wonderful," Scruggs grinned. "I think you saw the enthusiasm after."
Scruggs went 4 of 4 from the foul line in the closing seconds to put the game on ice.
"When you got a leader like Paul Scruggs, a closer like Paul Scruggs keeps everybody right here kind of even-keeled," said Steele. "And there was no panic. Ohio State went on their run. We just kept chipping away. Give Paul a lot of credit for closing off the game."
Scruggs finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. That's the third time in Xavier's first three games where Scruggs has been clutch when it mattered.
"He's an All-American level point guard," Steele said of Scruggs. "I think he's the best point guard in the country and I think that's shown here through the first three games.
"... Just the grit that he plays with – it's infectious, it's contagious amongst our whole team. He just wills us. And we're gonna ride his coattails very, very heavy all the way to the finish line."
But the truth on Thursday night was that Xavier put together 40 minutes of competitive basketball at both ends of the floor and the result showed that against a quality opponent.
The defense was there. The rebounding was there. The ball movement and attacking the basket were all there.
Xavier held Ohio State to 38% shooting and out-rebounded the Buckeyes 43-35.
Jack Nunge added 14 points and 14 rebounds. Nate Johnson had 12 points and Adam Kunkel added 10. Colby Jones had seven points and 12 rebounds. Dwon Odom got involved with eight points.
Everyone who touched the floor for Xavier impacted winning and the Musketeers did a nice job of slowing down Liddell, who finished with 17 points.
"I thought our guys fought," said Steele. "We tried to give (Liddell) a few different looks. We were helping in on his post-ups some. We would sometimes leave him on an island. We would switch his ball screens. We would try to go underneath and keep our matchups.
"... At the end of the day, where I was proud of defense was on the ball we were very disruptive. And I thought our guys fought like crazy in the post."
This was a gut-check game for Xavier and it came three games into the season. If Xavier can play with the same level of intensity and toughness night in and night out, the Musketeers can be a problem going forw
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