By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
 
It was just a little over a month ago when Zach Freemantle was asked about Xavier’s dwindling chances of receiving an NCAA Tournament invitation. The Musketeers were nursing a very ordinary 14-10 record at the time and Freemantle, who had missed the previous season and a half due to an assortment of injuries, couldn’t stomach missing out on the Big Dance in his final collegiate season.
 
But despite Xavier’s record, Fremantle knew the Musketeers could still find their way into March Madness by winning out the regular-season’s final seven games and then do some damage in the BIG EAST Tournament. Anything less and it would make for a very nerve-racking Selection Sunday for the Musketeers.
 
And up until Thursday’s quarterfinal-round game against Marquette, Freemantle was looking like the second coming of Nostradamus as the Musketeers did win those seven straight games to close the regular-season. Now all that was needed was a signature victory over Marquette and the Big Dance was a done deal. A really special late-season run was about to save the Musketeers’ season.
 
Only the Golden Eagles are not the sentimental type and thanks to a second-half, three-point barrage by Marquette, Selection Sunday is not going to be a comfortable day for the Musketeers. The quartet of Kam Jones, Chase Ross and David Joplin and Royce Parham combined to drain nine-three-pointers in the second half as the Golden Eagles overcame a 14-point, second-half deficit to pull out a heart-pounding 89-87 victory over Xavier.
 
The Golden Eagles (23-9) move on to face top-seeded St. John’s in Friday’s early semifinal matchup at 6:30 p.m. while Xavier (21-11) heads home and hopes for the best.
 
“That was a high-level game,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “Xavier fought their tails off. They really did a good job in the first half having us on our heels but our guys never stopped believing. We showed great fight even when we got down as much as 14 (points).”
 
Xavier seemed to have things under control as it held a 10-point lead (46-36) at halftime and eventually bumped their lead up to 14 points (53-39) after a pair of free throws from Dayvion McKnight with 17:34 to play. And with Ryan Conwell putting on his own superlative shooting performance - scoring 27 of his game-high 38 points in the second half - it seemed the Musketeers would have enough to hold off Marquette.
 
But Jones and Co. and other ideas. Chase Ross sank back-to-back three-balls early in the second half to trim the Marquette deficit to single digits. A little while later it was Parham getting in on the long-ball act when he popped a pair of three-pointers in just over two minutes and the Golden Eagles were within six at 62-56. Then following back-to-back steals by Jones and Stevie MItchell that led to a pair of layups which brought Marquette within 62-60, Jones delivered a three-pointer and Marquette had the lead at 63-62.
 
Xavier fought back, however, and when Conwell sank a three-ball of his own with 6:37 to go, it gave Xavier a 71-67 lead and it looked like the Musketeers had righted their ship.
 
Not quite.
 
Three-pointers down the stretch on both sides kept the game tight. But when Joplin picked up a loose ball and drained a three-pointer with 25.8 seconds to play for an 84-80 Marquette lead, it sealed the deal for all intents and purposes for the Golden Eagles and put Xavier’s NCAA hopes in serious doubt.
 
Jones finished with 28 points for Marquette while Mitchell and Ross added 16 apiece and Joplin chipped in with 14.
 
Jones and his Marquette mates have played a lot of big games at the Garden in their careers and he said that’s what helped the Golden Eagles stage their late-game comeback.
 
“That’s something we’ve been talking about, specifically the seniors and juniors,” Jones said. “They’ve been in this building before and we’ve won big games here before, made big-time plays. Coach is just trying to instill the confidence in us to go after it and play with everything we got for 40 minutes and we’ll see what happens.”
 
What happened was a trip to the semifinals Friday for Marquette.
 
As for Xavier, it will have to wait for the Selection Show on Sunday to learn its fate, all the while hoping they did enough to convince the selection committee they deserve an invitation.
 
“We desperately want to be part of the tournament,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We’ve won 12 of our last 16, seven in a row coming into today’s game. The 13 BIG EAST wins, the 21 overall wins and then what I really try to look at is our level of play. We’re one of America’s best three-point shooting teams. We’re one of America’s best free-throw shooting teams. Look, I know there’s a lot of teams that are worthy. We’re going to rely on the expertise of the committee. We’re hopeful that we can be part of the tournament.”