Xavier basketball was slightly shaky in closing out visiting Butler University, but the Musketeers ultimately stuck the landing.
The fifth-ranked Musketeers played an open, mostly-clean game and sent unranked Butler packing, 86-79, Tuesday night at Cintas Center before a sold out crowd of 10,609.
The win was Xavier's 10th in a row and pushed it to a 15-1 overall record and 3-0 in Big East Conference play ahead of a trip to unranked Providence College Saturday in Rhode Island.
The loss was the first of the league season for Butler (12-4, 2-1 Big East).
Xavier expanded its lead to double digits early in the second half and weren't to be caught on the night despite a late charge by the visitors.
"Tough, tough game. That's what you get in the Big East," Xavier head coach Chris Mack said.
Rebounding remained part of the core of Xavier's collective game Tuesday. It paired that asset with crisp passing and solid defense against a Butler team that shot around 40 percent throughout the game.
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The Musketeers committed 10 turnovers and out-rebounded the guests, 47-42.
Senior guards J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett enjoyed another strong tag-team effort as they combined for 41 points.
Macura had one of the most complete performances of his season (20 points, 6 of 12 shooting, four assists) while Bluiett, the Big East's fourth-leading scorer, reliably chipped in a team-high 21 points on 6 of 15 shooting.
Bluiett's scoring night allowed him to move into fifth place on the Musketeers' all-time scoring list with 1,902 career points.
Junior Kaiser Gates added 11 points for Xavier and sophomore Quentin Goodin added 12 of his own.
Butler cut a game-high 14-point deficit to five points with about a minute to play but couldn't finish in closing the gap.
"I think that's a really good basketball team," Butler