Xavier 77, St. Louis 66, OT
CINCINNATI -- Freshman guard Semaj Christon scored 20 points and Travis Taylor added 19 as Xavier denied No. 16 Saint Louis a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season title with a 77-66 overtime victory at Cintas Center.
Brad Redford added 11 points including three 3-pointers for Xavier (17-12, 9-6 A-10), which notched its second straight victory over a ranked opponent. Xavier defeated No. 19 Memphis on Feb. 26.
Kwamain Mitchell led Saint Louis (23-6, 12-3 A-10) with 17 points. Dwayne Evans added 16 points for the Billikens who had their 11-game winning streak stopped, losing for the first time since Jan. 19.
Mike McCall Jr. scored 14 points for Saint Louis before fouling out with 1:28 left in overtime.
Xavier went 14 of 16 from the free-throw line in overtime to seal the victory.
The Musketeers trailed by four points at halftime, but roared back in the second half.
Taylor's follow dunk put the Musketeers up 30-29. A 3-pointer by Redford completed a 10-0 run, giving Xavier an eight-point lead.
Saint Louis had just one field goal through the first 9:14 of the second half.
Redford answered with his third 3-pointer putting Xavier ahead 50-45 with 5:26 left.
McCall's fourth 3-pointer cut the Billikens' deficit to 58-57 with 38.6 seconds left. Jordair Jett then tipped in McCall's miss with 12 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Wednesday's game featured the top two defensive teams in the A-10, and it showed.
Saint Louis, which leads the A-10 and ranks 19th nationally with 57.9 points allowed, held Xavier to just 31 percent shooting in the first half. SLU shot 30 percent.
Christon, who was 4-for-24 from 3-point range entering the game, hit a pair of 3s to tie the score 12-12. He had not made a 3-pointer since Feb. 9 at Duquesne.
Taylor scored six of Xavier's first 12 points, two on a dunk off an assist from Christon.
Xavier had just one field goal in more than six minutes in the first half.
McCall led Saint Louis with eight points in the first half, including two 3-pointers. Christon led all scorers with nine points in the half.
NOTES: The last time Saint Louis earned at least a share of a regular-season conference title was in 1970-71, when it tied for first in the Missouri Valley Conference. Its last outright regular-season conference title was an MVC crown in 1956-57. ... SLU was ranked in the top 25 for consecutive weeks for the first time since 1993-94. ... Last week, Christon earned A-10 rookie honors for the sixth time. XU's previous high for league rookie-of-the-week awards was three, shared by Stanley Burrell (2004-05), Lenny Brown (1995-96) and current Indiana Pacers forward David West (1999-2000).
