CINCINNATI — The first two games haven’t been easy for Richard Pitino at Xavier. But he’s quickly learning a lot about his team.
Malik Messina-Moore led a balanced scoring attack with 17 points as sharp-shooting Xavier fended off an upset bid from visiting Le Moyne, 74-69, Thursday night in Cincinnati.
Roddie Anderson added 15 and Filip Borovicanin hauled in 12 rebounds for Xavier (2-0), which had all nine players who entered the game score. Both players started in the season-opening win against Marist but Pitino didn’t like the energy to start that game so he had both come off the bench against Le Moyne.
“The biggest story of the game, in my opinion, was the response of Roddie and Filip,” Pitino said. “I just didn’t like the way that we started the game. Last game, I told those guys, it’s not a punishment, but they always feel like it is, and they were ready to go. They were great in practice. Fil battled his butt off to get 12 rebounds. Roddie was terrific offensively and defensively, you know. So we’re going to get better and better with each game. So as much as you don’t like these close ones, like we’re going to learn and grow from it, and we’ve got a really, really tough one on Monday.”
Trent Mosquera had 20 to lead Le Moyne (1-1), in just their third season in the Northeast Conference. Deng Garang added 15 and Jakai Sanders scored 13 for the Dolphins.
Xavier took a 48-38 lead on a Tre Carroll three just two minutes into the second half before Le Moyne answered immediately with a 9-3 spurt to draw within four. The Dolphins drew within six, 61-55, with 6:52 remaining but Anderson had a dunk on a drive to the basket and Messina-Moore drove the lane for a layup and the lead was back to 10. Deng Garang drained a three with 4:14 left to close the Dolphins within five, 65-60. But Le Moyne could not sustain any second-half momentum to overtake the Musketeers, due in part to 18 turnovers.
Le Moyne raced out to a 19-12 lead just eight minutes in, thanks to three threes from Trent Mosquera and five straight points from Shilo Jackson.
But the Musketeers caught fire from beyond the arc, hitting seven 3-pointers as part of a 25-11 run that put them ahead, 37-30. Xavier finished the first half 11-of-17 from long range, highlighted by Malik Messina-Moore. The Montana transfer connected on 4-of-6 from long distance as part of a 14-point first half. The Dolphins stayed in the game thanks to 11 first-half points from Mosquera and a 22-6 advantage in the paint. Le Moyne finished the first 20 minutes by connecting on 7-of-9 shots from the field, trailing 43-36 at the half.
Trailing 67-60 with 3:43 left, Le Moyne mounted one more push, highlighted by a three from Ametri Moss with 2:34 left that cut the lead to 67-64. The Dolphins had a chance to cut the lead to three again but Shilo Jackson missed a pair of free throws with 2:21 remaining. It was the second win for Jovan Milicevic and Borovicanin, both of whom followed Pitino to Xavier from New Mexico this offseason.
“It’s the second game they’ve all won together collectively as a team,” Pitino added. “Jovan (Milicevic) and Filip won 27 games or whatever last year. But this is such a work in progress. Every game, even the exhibition games, have been close. So there’s a lot of special situation stuff that we can talk about. But, I think we’re going to be hopefully in a lot of close games this year, and our guys are going to learn from all of them.”
“We can find a way to win the game. We haven’t blown a team out yet, and we know we’re probably not going to have too many blowouts,” Anderson told me. “We’re going to be in a lot of close games. That’s the message that coach Pitino has been saying to us all year, nothing’s going to come easy. So we got a group that’s ready to fight, willing to fight, and willing to play with each other.”
The Santa Clara team Xavier faces Monday night at Cintas features a former NBA G-League player who has been declared eligible for college play.
Thierry Darlan, from the Central African Republic, spent the past two seasons in the NBA G League, playing for the G League Ignite and the Delaware Blue Coats. Darlan is the first person to play college basketball after a stint in the G League.
It was a move that caught the attention of Pitino’s dad and head coach at St. John’s.
“So let me get this straight, we can now recruit G league players? Is the NBA next? I have first dibs on (Giannis Antetokounmpo),” Rick Pitino tweeted on X.
So let me get this straight, we can now recruit G league players? Is the NBA next? I have first dibs on @Giannis_An34 😂
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) September 24, 2025
Ready or not, his son is set to take on that unique challenge Monday night.
In his first game, an 83-53 win over Cal-Poly Humboldt, Darlan grabbed 13 rebounds to go with his 13 points. He was held to four points and three rebounds in 17 minutes in Santa Clara’s second game, a 79-67 win over McNeese State. Allen Graves had a game-high 13 rebounds, six points, one block, a steal and an assist while Sasha Gavalyugov and Elijah Mahi each had 19 points.
Santa Clara is coached by someone very familiar to Xavier fans, 62-year-old Herb Sendek, who got his first head coaching job at Miami (OH) in 1993. Sendek is now in his tenth season coaching the Broncos of the West Coast Conference.
“Allen is a outstanding young player, and young by college basketball standards,” Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek said. “We’re playing a lot of young guys, a lot of first-year guys, and so it’s exciting to watch them have this opportunity, and it’ll be a lot of fun to watch them grow and develop through the course of the year.”
