Xavier basketball while shorthanded is still formidable.
The No. 9-ranked Musketeers proved as much as they gritted out an 81-77 win against the Marshall Thundering Herd Tuesday at Cintas Center.
A crowd of 10,431 attended the game, which served as Xavier's (11-1) last of non-conference home contest of the season.
Marshall dropped to 8-4 overall.
Xavier senior center Sean O'Mara scored 12 first-half points to lead Xavier and the hosts built a 20-point lead going into half.
Marshall cut the Musketeers' lead in half by the mid-way point in the second half, and to less than five points with 20.