Mount St. Mary's men's basketball falls to Xavier 97-52 in opener

Mount St. Mary's men's basketball lost its season opener on the road, falling 97-52 to Xavier on Monday at Cintas Center in Cincinnati.

The Mountaineers (0-1) trailed 51-16 at halftime and never led. Xavier (1-0) held a largest lead of 47 points. Mount St. Mary's scored 36 in the second half to Xavier's 46.

Shooting struggles

Mount St. Mary's shot 19-for-65 from the field (29 percent) and 3-for-26 from three-point range (12 percent). Xavier shot 35-for-70 (50 percent) and made 11 of 31 threes. Both teams were near 61-62 percent at the free throw line, with the Mountaineers going 11-for-18 and Xavier 16-for-26.

Redd Thompson Jr. had 5 points on 1-for-14 shooting, including 0-for-7 from three, but led the Mountaineers with 5 assists. He also had 7 turnovers.

Mountaineers leaders

Abdou Khadre Kebe led Mount St. Mary's with 13 points, going 4-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line. Wilguens Jr. Exacte added 12 points and a team-high 7 rebounds. Anthony Arrington Jr. scored 7 and had 4 steals. Cade Orness came off the bench for 8 points on 3-for-3 shooting.

Noah Limol had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 13 minutes, but he fouled out of the game with 5 fouls.

Xavier's edge

Xavier outrebounded Mount St. Mary's 56-33 and outscored the Mountaineers 48-24 in the paint. The Musketeers also had a 29-8 advantage in fast break points and scored 27 points off turnovers to the Mountaineers' 13. Mount St. Mary's committed 19 turnovers to Xavier's 17.

Chance Westry led Xavier with 17 points off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting. Jovan Milicevic scored 14, Mike Nwoko and Tru Washington each had 10, and Nikos Chitikoudis grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Filip Borovicanin had 6 assists, as did Kalek House.

Up next

Mount St. Mary's returns home to face Loyola Maryland on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. ET.