Tri-State Morning Tip-Off
A quick and easy daily recap of the night in area CBB and a look ahead to tonight's action.
Last night
St. John’s 79 Xavier 71 (OT)
The Musketeers let a Quad 1 road win get away, blowing a 16 point second half lead. XU shot 50% from the field in the first half and took a 40-30 lead into the locker room. The lead was 16 with 17:00 left when the St. John's run began. The Red Storm shot 61% over the final 20 minutes. Ryan Conwell led the Musketeers with 21 points. Dailyn Swain, who scored a season-high 16 points and added 5 rebounds, exited with a leg injury with 3:30 left in the game. Zach Freemantle fouled out in OT. Somehow, XU’s bench did not produce a single FG (0-2) in 38:55 combined minutes of play. Jerome Hunter hit two free throws in the extra session. XU got outmuscled, losing the battle of the boards 37-30, allowing 11 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points, while being outscored 48-24 in the paint.
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Northwestern 79 Indiana 70
The Hoosiers (14-6/5-4) used an 18-2 run to lead by six at the half. But Northwestern outscored IU by 15 in the second half, including a 21-4 stretch run to end the game. The Hoosier’s defense fell apart as the Wildcats made nine 3-point field goals in the second half while scoring 54 points. 17 IU turnovers led to 21 Northwestern points. The Wildcats shot 64.5% on 3-point field goals and 62.5% overall in the final 20 minutes. Mackenzie Mgbako: 20 points along with five rebounds. Oumar Ballo: 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
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Milwaukee 95 Wright State 79
The visiting Panthers got comfortable at the Nutter Center, draining 11 of 24 (46%) three-pointers to blitz the WSU defense. After leading 28-21 in the first half, the Raiders were outscored 74-51 the rest of the way. Alex Huibregtse scored a game-high 21 points to lead four Raiders (10-11/4-6) in double digit scoring. The Panthers, who did not connect on a three-pointer in Friday’s win over Youngstown State, had six players reach double figures. The Panthers shot 81.5% from the free throw line, making 22 of 27 attempts. They entered the day shooting 66% from the stripe this season, ranking 328th in the country.
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I was recently asked which fan bases engage the most/comment on their teams in our Tri-State Morning Tip-Off. I went back over all the posts and found the following:
Rank of fan base participation:
1. Purdue
2. Kentucky
3. Cincinnati
4. Dayton
5. Indiana
6. Ohio State
7. Louisville
8. Xavier
9. Miami
10. Northern Kentucky
11. Wright State
12. Ohio
Thanks to everyone that checks out the post each morning!