14th Ranked Roosevelt Cruises Past Saint Xavier

CHICAGO – No. 14 Roosevelt closed the first half on a 15-2 run and never looked back, racing past Saint Xavier 70-53 on Wednesday night at the Goodman Center in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.

The Lakers (20-3, 14-1 CCAC) held the Cougars without a field goal for the final seven minutes of the first half, surrendering only a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds. Roosevelt made more than half of its 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes, led by three from Maurice Commander and two from David Swedura.

Roosevelt only grew the lead in the second half, leading by as many as 22 in the contest while continuing to make shots from behind the arc. The Lakers finished the day 14 of 29 on 3-pointers with Julio Montes II making half of his 10 attempts and Commander finishing 4 of 9 from long range. Swedura also made 3 of 4 from deep to complete the trio of Lakers that finished in double figures.

Commander led the way for the Lakers in the first half with 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, knocking down several key shots early to jumpstart the offense. However, it was the other guys who took control of the game during the decisive 15-2 run, that was started by a Cody Mitchell jump shot followed by a 3-pointer from Daniel Reed. Forte Prater added a jump shot and Kani Acree hit his only 3 of the contest to push the lead to 11 before Commander sank a triple to put the Lakers up 12 at the intermission.

Montes took over in the second half with 17 points on 5 of 8 shooting to finish with 20 on the evening. The sophomore was particularly devastating from behind the arc with four triples, including a pair in the final two minutes to put the game away for good. Commander finished with 16 points and Swedura ended with 11. Malcolm Townsel grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, followed closely by seven from Prater and six from Cody Mitchell.

The Lakers maintained their two-game lead atop the CCAC standings with five games to go, and will look to inch closer to the program's first title Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. matchup against St. Francis in Joliet.