Reynolds, Bluiett lead Xavier over Providence

What a day for Jalen Reynolds.

After the Xavier forward scored a career-high 19 points with seven rebounds in the Musketeers' 78-69 victory over Providence Saturday at Cintas Center, he was greeted by the student section's frenzied cheers. He reveled in the celebration.

"It just meant a lot to us tonight," Reynolds said. "We just needed to get this done and everybody needed to contribute, whether it was a rebound or a put-back or jumping on the floor for a ball."

Reynolds helped Xavier (15-9, 6-6 Big East) solve the riddle of Providence (17-7, 7-4), a team that defeated it in overtime Jan. 22. The Musketeers bounced back from Wednesday's disappointing overtime loss to Creighton with the resume-building win over the Friars, ranked 20th in the NCAA Daily RPI.

A heady defensive play with 1:13 left – a steal by senior Dee Davis that prevented Kris Dunn from potentially scoring a lay-up and making it a one-possession game – helped ensure Xavier's victory before a sellout crowd of 10,250.

"Kris Dunn, he's unstoppable on the break," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "With all the pro hops and Euro-steps and ability to put a guy on his shoulder, for Dee to take his ball on a 1-on-1 break (shows) incredible anticipation, great toughness. Savvy play by Dee."

Trevon Bluiett added 19 points behind three 3-pointers, Myles Davis scored 14 points, J.P. Macura chipped in 10 points and Dee Davis tied a career high with 15 assists as XU improved to 12-1 at home.

It was a strange and somewhat scary game for Providence, which played most of the second half without coach Ed Cooley. He hastily exited the court and did not return, leaving associate head coach Andre LaFleur in charge. LaFleur said afterward that Cooley had been taken to the hospital for tests.

About that time, the Musketeers employed a zone defense that gave the Friars problems. An eight-point lead grew to 10 points with 12:11 remaining.

"(Zone) worked a little bit in the first game and certainly it worked here today. The difference was I thought we were able to rebound out of it. We got out in transition, which built up our lead," Mack said.

Providence still managed to pull within two points behind 5-of-7 shooting, including five points by Dunn, who was limited in the first half by fouls. LaDontae Henton later knotted the score at 62 with an uncontested lay-up and Ben Bentil followed suit to make it 64-all.

Bluiett then launched a game-changing 10-0 Musketeers run, which was aided by a Myles Davis steal, and the Musketeers prevailed in an outing that included eight ties and 21 lead changes. Xavier finished the last 4:19 on a 14-5 tear and scored 19 points off turnovers throughout.

Reynolds was nothing short of spectacular from the start. He promptly went 3-for-3 for six points, including a dunk that capped a Macura baseline drive.

"He's always been a talent but the game is starting to slow down for him on both ends of the floor. Offensively he understands where to be and defensively he really is starting to grasp concepts. We could have never changed defenses in the past on the fly and felt like Jalen was going to be able to do that," Mack said. "And in his sophomore year's he's really transformed. He's really starting to get the hang of college basketball."

Providence inched within five points on a pair of Henton free throws with 1:45 to go but the steal by Dee Davis kept Xavier in control. Myles Davis buried two free throws with 56.5 seconds remaining and a massive Reynolds dunk finished things off.

Dee Davis laid the ball off the glass to set up Reynolds for the crowd-pleasing finale.

"There was a couple time that Jalen was trailing the play in the game and Jalen let me know that he was back there," Davis said, smiling. "The last one was a clear 2-on-1 and I knew he was going to call for it. So I didn't think twice about throwing it off the glass to him."