Xavier leaves 2018 Maui Invitational with win over Illinois

The Xavier Musketeers avoided a disastrous start to the season with their victory on Wednesday night. The Musketeers defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini 83-74 in their final game in the 2018 Maui Invitational, moving to 3-3 in the process.

Xavier trailed the Illini 19-14 at one point in the first half and 21-20 at the conclusion of the first 10 minutes of the game. But the Musketeers went on to storm ahead and didn’t look back after that. They maintained the lead the rest of the way and held Illinois to just 33 points in the second half while putting up 40 of their own.

Quentin Goodin and Elias Harden helped to lead the charge for the Musketeers. Goodin scored a team-high 15 points while Harden put up 14 and was 4-for-4 from 3-point land. Paul Scruggs and Naji Marshall got into double figures as well with 10 and 13 points of their own.

It was a much more well-rounded effort on the statsheet to say the least, and from an efficiency standpoint, as well. They put up an 8-for-20 mark from the 3-point arc and 67.6 percent (23-for-34) on 2-point attempts. Their FT shooting could’ve been better, as they went 13-for-22, but it didn’t wind up hurting them in the end.

Ayo Dosunmu led the way for the Illini as the freshman had a brilliant effort in the loss. Dosunmu had 19 points while shooting 8-for-12 from the field including a mark of 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Trent Frazier had 18 points, second-best on the team, while senior Aaron Jordan had 16. Points were otherwise hard to come by for Illinois as the rest of the team combined for just 21 points.

X will be back in action next Wednesday, as they’ll host the Miami (OH) RedHawks at Cintas Center.