Ryan Conwell impressed in his Xavier debut with 21 points while Zach Freemantle added 19 points and 11 rebounds to rally the Xavier Musketeers past the visiting Texas Southern Tigers, 78-69, Monday night in Cincinnati.
Dayvion McKnight added 19 and Dailyn Swain chipped in 14 to help Xavier (1-0) overcome a nine-point first-half deficit. Xavier extended their remarkable win streak in season openers to 35 games, including all 25 at their on-campus Cintas Center venue.
Kavion McClain led the Tigers (0-1) with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Kolby Granger was the only other Texas Southern player in double figures with 17.
Conwell, the highly touted transfer from Indiana State, did not disappoint in his Xavier debut, finishing 6-for-12 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.
Swain stopped a five-minute field goal drought for Xavier when he finished an end-to-end rush with a layup with 11 minutes remaining in the second half. The layup was part of Xavier’s 11-0 run that wiped out Texas Southern’s last lead of 55-54 and gave the Musketeers a 65-55 lead.
Xavier took advantage of a big disparity at the free throw line, making 25-of-28 attempts in the second half and 34-of-41 for the game. The Musketeers outscored the Tigers, 34-11, for the game from the stripe.
Freemantle and Jerome Hunter both returned for Xavier after missing last season with foot injuries.
Ouma Koureissi sparked a 13-0 Texas Southern surge in the first half that gave the Tigers an early 18-10 lead nine minutes into the game.
Texas Southern built their lead to 30-21 on Alex Anderson’s three with 6:21 left in the first half. Conwell and Freemantle combined for nine points in a 13-8 run to close the half as Texas Southern led 38-34 at the break.
Xavier improved to 2-0 lifetime against Texas Southern, who lost to the No. 1 seed Musketeers in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.