No. 3 Xavier wins share of Big East title with victory against Providence College

Xavier basketball is a nearly 100-year-old institution that exudes history, echoes with the recollections of past champions and recalls fondly the litany of great coaches and players it's seen through the years.

There's a new Xavier champion to celebrate as of Wednesday.

The new echo that will ring out across the university’s campus: The 2017-18 Xavier Musketeers are the Big East Conference regular season champions.

The No. 3-ranked Musketeers (26-4, 14-3 Big East) clinched at least a share of the Big East title for the first time ever as a consequence of their 84-74 victory over the Providence College Friars (18-12, 9-8) at Cintas Center before a crowd of 10,715.

There’s still some business in the Big East standings to settle as one game remains for the Musketeers and Xavier needs a win at DePaul to clinch the outright league title and the No. 1-seed in next week's Big East Tournament.

On Wednesday, the possibility of sharing the title with second-place Villanova was a distant concern for a Xavier program that waited long and fought hard to reach the pinnacle of the high-major league it joined for the 2013-14 season.

After the final buzzer sounded, students stormed the court, confetti rained down from the rafters and the Xavier players passed around the weighty Big East regular season championship trophy.

Xavier also milked the celebration as they cut down the nets at one end of the arena before a rapt crowd.

"It's hard. It's hard to do what our team just did," Xavier head coach Chris Mack said after the celebrating died down. "We still want to finish the job. We still want to be better on Saturday than we were today and we're gonna need to be... You feel that pressure of wanting to get what you worked so hard for, so it's not gonna come easy and it hasn't, so I'm really happy for our seniors. It was really cool to watch those guys go up on the latter and cut the nets. I think back to when I recruited them and when they were in my office. To see them become Big East champions is something they'll never forget."

The road to reach the party scene after the game was a long one considering Providence was desperate to tack on another quality victory on the back end of its own formidable league campaign.

The Musketeers’ sense of their close proximity to glory was evident in the tenacity of their play, too, as they nearly led the Friars for 38:52 of game time.

That’s not to say the game wasn’t tight. It was, and after Xavier led by 13 points at the 11:23 mark of the first half, Providence cut its deficit to a single point on its first possession of the second half.

The Friars were led in scoring by Maliek White's 15 points. Four others – Alpha Diallo (13 points), Kyron Cartwright (10), Makai Ashton-Langford (11) and Isaiah Jackson (13) – also notched double-figure scoring, although Diallo, Cartwright and Rodney Bullock battled foul trouble in the game.

Bullock fouled out after logging just 22 minutes and six points.

Xavier sprung into attack mode as they converted six of their first seven field goals in the second stanza to fortify its lead, although the game would remain tight as Providence shot better than 52 percent on the night.

In a game that doubled as Xavier’s customary Senior Night, the team’s elders took firm command of the game early and guided the way home.

Fittingly, senior guard and second-all time leading Xavier scorer Trevon Bluiett went for 23 points while senior centers Sean O’Mara and graduate transfer Kerem Kanter went for 10 points apiece, respectively.

Bluiett exhibited a rare dunk with under a minute to go to put Xavier up by 12 points and essentially clinch the game. He turned, chest puffed, and ran back on defense with the full knowledge his Cintas Center career would be capped with a piece of silverware.

As a sign of Xavier’s depth, sophomore guard Quentin Goodin added 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting.

In his Cintas Center farewell, Xavier senior guard J.P. Macura chipped in six points (3 of 6 shooting).

When the game went final, fans flooded onto the court and took selfies with Xavier players and staffers.

Back in the Xavier locker room, the team was waiting on O'Mara to commence their private celebration.

"A lot of selfies," Goodin said of the locker room scene.

Before they had even changed out of their uniforms after the game, the Musketeers were already starting to set their sights on Saturday's DePaul trip.

"At the beginning of the year, we didn't put Big East co-champions" as our goal, O'Mara said.

Goodin agreed, adding, "We've still got more goals after this. We're trying to win an NCAA Tournament championship, too."

"We're gonna celebrate. We're gonna have our fun for the next hour or so. We're going to enjoy this win but we still have business to finish," Goodin said. "We gotta finish."

ANOTHER TITLE FOR CHRIS MACK

Xavier head coach Chris Mack is already the winningest in program history, and he now has a third regular season conference title to his name.

Mack previously claimed regular season titles in 2009-10 and 2010-11 while Xavier was a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

As Wednesday's victory guaranteed Xavier at least a share of the Big East championship this season, the finish atop the league is the Musketeer program's best finish in a league campaign since finishing second in the Big East in 2015-16.

SO LONG, SENIORS

Prior to the opening tip, Xavier honored its senior managers and players, including the four-year trio of Macura, Bluiett and O’Mara. The victory over Providence was the 101st over four seasons for the three players. Individually, they've hauled in dozens of individual accolades throughout their respective careers. More are sure to follow this spring.

Kanter, a key cog and frequent starter throughout 2017-18, was also honored, as was walk-on Matt Singleton. Singleton made his fifth career Xavier appearance just prior to the final buzzer Wednesday when he was subbed on.

Combined, Xavier's departing seniors have scored 4,483 points to date.