Dave Young had looked lost the past three weeks. He found his way Thursday.

        The Xavier junior forward snapped a shooting slump with 12 points against Kent State, making five of 10 shots — including two 3-pointers. He added four rebounds, two steals and a block.

        “Dave had a little more fire in him tonight than the past few outings,” XU coach Thad Matta said. “He was more aggressive on the boards, and defensively he was very active. That's what we've got to get out of him.”

        Young made two key defensive plays late. Kent State had the ball, down 56-51 with 90 seconds left, when Young stole an Andrew Mitchell pass and raced in for a layup. Then he blocked a shot in the final 20 seconds.

        Young averaged 10 points in the season's first four games, shooting 40 percent (12-of-30), and scored a career-high 19 points at San Francisco. But he averaged just 3.5 points and shot 26.3 percent (5-of-19) over the next four games, including attempting just one shot against Cincinnati last Friday.

        Young was just 4-of-19 (.211) on 3-pointers before made 2-of-6 from that distance Thursday.

        “He's been thrust into a position (as a starter) that's new to him,” Matta said of Young earlier this week. “He's still learning.”

        X-FILES:

        West moved into 30th place on the XU career scoring list with 1,084 points, passing Aaron Williams, Joe Geiger and Bob Pelkington. He's one point behind Jim Boothe. ... XU was outrebounded for the fourth time in five games, as Kent State grabbed 46 rebounds to XU's 43. Kent State had 21 offensive rebounds, many coming off long bounces from its 27 3-pointers.

        RECRUIT RANKINGS:

        XU's five-man class of signees stands 16th in the updated Hoop Scoop recruiting rankings. The publication uses a cumulative point system to rank teams, so with XU at the five-recruit maximum, its 21 points will remain the same. XU could drop in the rankings as other schools complete their recruiting classes.

        UP NEXT:

        XU visits Creighton (5-3) at 5:05 p.m. Saturday. The Bluejays will be without injured leading scorer Kyle Korver (15.5 ppg).

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