CINCINNATI, Ohio – Senior Nick Mayo became the all-time leading scorer in Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball history on Saturday night in the Colonels’ 95-77 loss at Xavier.
Mayo finished the game with 25 points, six rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals. His three-pointer at the 10:58 mark of the first half gave him 1,835 career points, moving him past Matt Witt (2002-06) to No. 1 on EKU’s all-time scoring list.
The native of Oakland, Maine finished the night 9-of-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from deep.
Freshman Jomaru Brown came off the bench to tally 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. He also dished out a career-high five assists.
Junior Dujuanta Weaver drained a career-high five three-pointers and finished with 15 points.
Quentin Goodin led six Musketeers in double figures with 16 points and 10 assists.
EKU (6-5) forced Xavier into 27 turnovers and scored 31 points off those miscues. The Colonels, however, shot only 33 percent from the free throw line (5-of-15).
Eastern grabbed its largest lead of the night, 23-16, when Mayo buried a three-pointer at the 10:22 mark of the first half. Soon after, Mayo went to the bench with his second foul, and Xavier took advantage.
The Musketeers outscored the Colonels, 31-10, over the final 10 minutes of the first half, and a jumper by Naji Marshall at the buzzer sent Xavier into the locker room at halftime up by 14, 47-33.
With Mayo back on the court to start the second half, EKU opened on a 7-0 run. A triple by Mayo cut the lead to seven, 47-40, less than two minutes into the half.
That was as close as EKU would get, though. A three-point play by Goodin at the 10:08 mark capped a 26-9 run and gave the Musketeers a 24-point advantage, 73-49. They stretched that lead all the way to 27. But EKU kept battling, trimming it down to 14 – 91-77 – on a dunk by Brown with just over a minute to play.
EKU returns to action next Saturday, December 22, when the Colonels travel to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne at 2 p.m. ET.
