Xavier Musketeers thrashed Butler Bulldogs 62-47 to mark their second straight win Tuesday. They will face Robert Morris in their next match Saturday.
Lead scorer Jeff Robinson ensured the team's victory by scoring 17 points and eight rebounds for the Xavier.
''We aren't underdogs,'' Robinson said. ''People think we're not going to have as good of a season, but this is a great group of guys. My teammates were feeling me the ball in the right positions and encouraging me to shoot,''
Travis Taylor contributed with 15 points and nine rebounds; whereas Justin Martin added 10 points for the Xavier.
The Butler coach Brad Stephens appreciated the performance of the Musketeers.
''Hats off to Xavier,'' The Associated Press quoted Stephens as saying. ''Xavier was the better team. They were the better team, they had better players, they were better-coached. I see them having a great year. I laughed at that whole ninth-place thing. I thought that was pretty silly.''
The Xavier were leading by 7 points at the end of the first half.
In the second half, the Musketeers guard Dee Davis did not allow the Bulldogs' Butler guard Rotnei Clarke to score easy points. Clarke added only seven points on Tuesday as compared to scoring 21 points against Elon on Saturday.
''I'm tired,'' Davis said. ''He's a great player. I watched a lot of film and pushed through every ball screen.''
The Butler had a low shooting percentage of 36.5 (19 of 52) in the game and 25 percent (7 of 28) in the second half. The Musketeers kept the Bulldog's shooters away from 3-point arc. The Butler could make just 4 of 18 attempts beyond the 3-point line.
''The difference in the game was we gave them no open looks on 3-pointers,'' The Xavier head coach Chris Mack said. ''Dee did a really good job of not losing any concentration throughout.''
The Butler coach was also impressed with the outstanding performance of the Xavier guard.
''It takes a lot of focus and attention to detail to do what he did for (35) minutes,'' Stephens added. ''It might've taken away from his offensive game a little bit. It can wear on a guy to chase those guys all over the place.'' The Xavier used 3-point arc better and shot 50 percent (23 of 46).
''I don't know if it was a statement game as much as it was, 'We'd better be ready or we're going to get it handed to us,''' Mack said. ''You know (Butler's) going to battle you tooth-and-nail.''
Freshman Kellen Dunham was lead scorer for the Butler with 11 points; Andrew Smith scored nine points.
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