XU gives game away at home vs Wofford

After failing to come out in the second half against Cincinnati, Xavier failed to do the same against Wofford today, falling to the Terriers 56-55 at home. This is the second game in a row the Musketeers have been unable to close out an opponent in the second half. On a side note, Xavier wore green jerseys with Sandy Hook written across them and the shorts had an eagle logo. This was to honor the shootings that happened in Newtown, Connecticut over a week ago.

Travis Taylor started the game by hitting a long jumper along the baseline to give Xavier the early lead. Then Wofford would go on a 6-0 run by hitting two threes that gave the Terriers the lead at 6-2. Xavier followed with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 8-6.

Taylor played well on the defensive end, finishing with 3 blocks, but he would block a shot that would lead to a dunk by him coming from an assist from Dee Davis. This gave Xavier the lead 10-9 with. This would be the start of a 10-0 run for the Musketeers. Jeff Robinson would score 4 points during the run as Xavier went up 18-9 with 10:37 left in the first half.

Karl Cochran of Wofford hit a free throw line jumper to stop the run and give the Terriers a little bit of energy. After Dee Davis would hit the only Musketeers 3 in the first half, Cochran would answer with a 3 of his own starting a 5-0 run for Wofford. Xavier led 21-16.

Xavier would finish out the first half strong on the back of Travis Taylor. Semaj would hit a hop step shot in the paint to end Wofford's run and give Xavier the lead at 23-16. Travis Taylor would score the Musketeers next 7 points and capped it with an and-1 shot to give Xavier its biggest lead of the game at 30-16 with 4:47 left in the half. The Musketeers would go into halftime with the lead at 34-22

Wofford caught fire coming out of halftime and going on a 12-2 run to start the second half. Cochran would score 8 points during this run as the Musketeers saw the lead dwindle to 36-34 with 15:18 left in the second half.

Semaj slowed the Terriers run with one of his game high eight assists to Erik Stenger who finished with the dunk. A made 3 pointer by Taylor Wagener would tie the game at 40-40 until Justin Martin made a layup off an inbounds pass to give Xavier the lead at 42-40. Dee Davis would hit 2 free throws at the 10:47 mark to take the lead again at 44-42. After this mark no team would score until 5:59 when Karl Cochran stole it from Erik Stenger and gave it to Lee Skinner would finish the layup and tie the game at 44-44.

Taylor would score the Musketeers next 3 points with a made right hook and going 1/2 from the free throw line to give Xavier the lead at 47-44. The Terrier would then go on a 7-0 run to give them their first lead of the game. Spencer Collins had 5 points during the run, which put the Musketeers down 51-47 with 1:42 left in the game.

Semaj hit an and-1 bank shot with 42 seconds left, but missed the free throw as Wofford led 51-49. The Musketeers overall struggled from the free throw line in the second half only shooting 30% from the line, opposed to the first half where Xavier shot 83.3% from the line.

Spencer Collins would make both of his free throws to extend the Terriers lead to 53-49 with 20 seconds left in the game. Brad Redford would then hit a 3 with two defenders in hit face to cut Wofford's lead to 1 at 51-50. Lee Skinner would also hit both of his free throws to extend Wofford's lead to 3. Brad Redford would hit another 3 to tie the game at 53-53.

Jeff Robinson would foul Lee Skinner with 7 seconds left to give Wofford a chance to win the game. Skinner went 1/2 from the line as Travis Taylor would rebound the ball and give it to Semaj. Christon pushed the ball down the court and into the lane where he would be called for the charge with 1.5 seconds left. Wofford would inbound the ball on their way to a victory.

The Musketeers were led in scoring by Travis Taylor, who tied his career high at Xavier with 20 points. He also finished with 11 rebounds as Xavier outrebounded Wofford 32-29. Semaj scored 10 points and had 8 of Xavier's 12 total assists.

Wofford was led in scoring by guard Karl Cochran who finished with 20 points. Guard Spencer Collins scored 17 points.

The Musketeers will return to action at Tennessee on December 29. This game will begin at 6:00 P.M.