KINGSTON, R.I. --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 14-3 overall and 6-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, won their ninth straight game with a 67-49 victory at Rhode Island’s Keaney Gymnasium on Wednesday night. XU’s 6-0 A-10 record includes four road wins, including a sweep of the just-completed three-game road trip.

Xavier took the lead at the start and built on the advantage as the game wore on. Sophomore Romain Sato (Central African Republic) opened the scoring with a three-pointer to give XU a 3-0 lead. It was an omen of things to come as XU never relinquished the lead and Sato continued to lead the charge.

Sato, a 6-5 guard, equaled his season high in scoring tonight with a game-high 24 points, hitting 8-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point territory. Sato also had five rebounds, two assists and a career-high four steals. He’s no stranger to lighting it up in Rhode Island as scored a career-high 31 points in last season’s win against URI at the Providence Civic Center on the strength of a school record eight three-pointers.

“Romain did a great job of letting the game come to him,” said Xavier head coach Thad Matta, “and the other guys did a great job getting him the ball.”

Xavier led by 11 points, 31-20, at halftime thanks to an aggressive defense that held URI to 26.5 percent shooting in the first half. Junior forward Troy Wiley kept the Rams in the game in the first half as he scored 16 of his team’s 20 first half points on his way to a game-high 25 points. URI, which fell to 0-5 in the A-10 and 4-12 overall, shot just 30.2 percent from the field for the game.

“I do think we challenged a high percentage of their shots,” said Matta.

The Musketeers opened the second half with a 6-0 run to open up a 17-point, 37-20, lead with 17:23 left. The Rams never threatened in the second half. XU led by as many as 20 points (47-27) the rest of the way and URI could get no closer than 13 points.

In addition to Sato, Xavier also got a big game from All-America Candidate David West, 6-9 junior forward from Garner, N.C. West contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds and was an intimidating force on defense with seven blocked shots, which is second in XU history only to the school record eight blocked shots he had in the season-opening win over Coastal Carolina.

Xavier opens a two-game homestand on Saturday at the sold out 10,250-seat Cintas Center at 2:00 p.m. against the Dayton Flyers. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.