» Recent Threads |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dee Davis
 Last post by PMIToday 09:24 AM
11 Replies, 521 Views
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shirts
Today 06:04 AM
17 Replies, 658 Views
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shirts
Yesterday 09:10 PM
2 Replies, 114 Views
|
|
|
Love bids farewell with fourth-straight A-10 Title, conquest of Bonnies, 93-72 |
|
Mar 07, 2010 - 4:32 PM - by kyxu
|
Love bids farewell with fourth-straight A-10 Title, conquest of Bonnies, 93-72
by Mike Damone
It was a nearly storybook scenario for the #25 Xavier Musketeers. The program began the afternoon saying goodbye to its lone senior Jason Love in his final home game, underscored by the buzz of possibly clinching a fourth-consecutive Atlantic 10 regular season title.
Well...a share of the title.
But considering a handful of senior night shakeups across college basketball, it was hardly a disappointment for the Musketeers, as they led the St. Bonaventure Bonnies wire-to-wire, aided by 14 points and nine rebounds from Love, on their way to a 93-72 conquest Saturday afternoon at the Cintas Center.
The win gave the Musketeers (23-7, 14-2) a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title with Temple, and capped an undefeated season at home for the first time since the 1998-99 season when Xavier went a perfect 15-0 at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Dante Jackson (11 pts, 2 reb) splashed a three to start the scoring, and the Musketeers never looked back, racing out to a 26-6 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Jamel McLean (15 pts, 9 reb) led the early charge, scoring eight points and pulling down three rebounds during that span.
The Bonnies (14-15, 7-9) fought back, trimming Xavier’s lead with 1:23 left before the break, 38-30. Chris Matthews (14 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast) led the Bonnies with some hot-shooting in the first half, and his fastbreak three brought St. Bonaventure to within eight.
Xavier would quell the Bonnies’ rally, scoring six of the final eight points of the first half, including a jumper from Terrell Holloway (9 pts, 10 ast) just before the buzzer, to keep Xavier on top, 44-32. The Musketeers were able to hold St. Bonaventure star Andrew Nicholson (21 pts, 3 reb) to just six first-half points.
Holloway started the second half with a three, and Jackson extended Xavier’s lead back to 19, 54-35, with another triple with 17:15 to play. Nicholson later cut Xavier’s lead to 17, 63-46, before Mark Lyons (10 pts, 3 ast) dropped a three to put Xavier back up 20.
After a long McLean rebound on the Bonnies’ next possession, Jordan Crawford (22 pts, 4 reb) found Kenny Frease (3 pts, 2 reb) for a jam on the fastbreak to put Xavier up 22 with 11:29 left.
A Nicholson dunk to cap a 6-0 St. Bonaventure run brought the Bonnies to within 15, and a three from Ogo Adegboye (10 pts, 3 reb) cut Xavier’s lead to 14, 76-62, with under six minutes remaining. But Crawford answered with a three and later scored on a fastbreak to put Xavier back up by 20, 82-62.
Chris Mack began to empty his bench, and Love exited the Cintas Center floor to an ovation and 105 career wins. Love also never saw any of his Xavier teams loss at home to an Atlantic 10 foe.
Some of the Xavier walk-ons got in on Saturday afternoon’s action, with Kevin Feeney (3 points) knocking down a three to put Xavier up 21, and Johnny Mazza (2 points) hitting a jumper to provide Xavier’s final tally.
The Musketeers had five players in double figures, led by Crawford’s game-high 22 points, followed by 15 from McLean and 14 from Love. Jackson and Lyons added 11 and 10, respectively.
Holloway tied a career-high with 10 assists to go with his nine points, while Love narrowly missed recording a double-double in his final home game, though his nine boards tied for the game-high with teammate McLean.
Nicholson led the Bonnies with 21, followed by 14 from Matthews, 11 from Jonathan Hall and 10 from Adegboye.
The Musketeers conclude their regular season on a season-high seven-game winning streak, and will enter next week’s Atlantic 10 Tournament in Atlantic City as a 2 seed. It is the first time since the 2005-06 season Xavier did not earn the one seed for the conference tournament, which is also the last time Xavier won the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Xavier will now face off against the winner of the 10 seed versus 7 seed match-up on Friday at 6:30 p.m., which features the George Washington Colonials versus the Dayton Flyers. Xavier defeated the Colonials at the Smith Center, 76-69, in January, and split the season series with the Flyers, with each team winning on its respective home court.
|
0 Replies | 70 Views
|
|
Balanced effort tips Fordham in #25 Xavier’s final road swing, 82-56 |
|
Mar 04, 2010 - 12:36 AM - by kyxu
|
Balanced effort tips Fordham in #25 Xavier’s final road swing, 82-56
by Mike Damone
Perhaps the most impressive feat of Xavier’s 2009-10 basketball season is the lack of a “head-scratching” loss on Xavier’s postseason resume. The Musketeers (22-7, 13-2) had their share of scares this year, winning by single digits to La Salle and UMass – two teams who have combined for just eight conference wins this season.
With that in mind, it was difficult to conceive of a scenario where the Musketeers could falter against the hapless Fordham Rams (2-25, 0-15) – losers of 19-straight heading into the Bronx’s historic Rose Hill Gymnasium Wednesday night. Xavier kept the impressive trend going, dominating the bottom-dwelling Rams, 82-56.
The Rams looked energized to spring the upset with their hot-shooting early on, and actually took a 15-13 lead off an Alberto Estwick (11 pts, 3 reb) triple 5:40 into the game. Xavier couldn’t distance itself from Fordham, and the Rams regained the lead again, 22-21, off a Rayner Moquete (4 pts, 2 ast) layup.
Just a few moments later, Mark Lyons (11 pts, 4 reb) gave Xavier the lead for good, 24-22, with a three with under nine minutes to go in the first half. Jamel McLean (16 pts, 8 reb) continued to dominate the interior, scoring Xavier’s next six points and helping them to a 30-24 lead.
A short jumper from Terrell Holloway (14 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast) gave Xavier its first double-digit lead, 38-28, and McLean extended Xavier’s lead, 42-31, with a thundering jam off a feed from Jordan Crawford (11 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast). Lyons canned another three off a screen to give Xavier a 14-point advantage at the intermission, 45-31.
A pair of free throws from McLean stretched Xavier’s lead to 20, 55-35, just three minutes into the second half, and Fordham got no closer. The Musketeers never allowed the Rams to threaten their lead, but maintained a pace that prevented the game from getting out of hand in their opponent’s final home game.
With Xavier leading by 22, the Musketeers went on a modest 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the night. Kenny Frease (7 pts, 7 reb) scored on a tip-in and a free throw, Holloway drove and scored and Brian Walsh (4 pts, 2 reb) capped the run with a long jumper to put Xavier up 82-53 with 2:48 left.
Xavier pumped the breaks somewhat, as Mack emptied his bench to play out the final moments.
McLean notched a game-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds. Holloway added 14, with Crawford and Lyons each chipping in 11. Chris Gaston led the Rams with 15 points and 13 rebounds, followed by Brenton Butler’s (13 pts, 4 reb) 13 and Estwick’s 11.
Xavier’s inside-outside threat of Jason Love (8 pts, 13 reb) and Crawford performed modestly on the offensive end, but combined for 21 rebounds and eight assists.
After shooting 44 percent in the game’s opening minutes to keep the contest close, the Rams cooled from the field, finishing at just a 34 percent clip for the game. The Musketeers also out-rebounded the Rams, 56-41.
Xavier returns home to take on the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Musketeers’ final game of the regular season. Winners of four-straight, the Bonnies (14-14, 7-8) are coming off 92-80 victory over Duquesne. In last year’s meeting in Olean, Xavier buried the St. Bonaventure, 84-64.
The Xavier program will also bid farewell Saturday to its lone senior Love, who became the winningest player in the program’s history at 104 victories Wednesday night. The senior from Philadelphia has been lauded by many close to the program as the epitome of a “Xavier man,” possessing an indelible work ethic, selflessness, humility and commitment to winning.
|
|
4 Replies | 170 Views
|
|
Xavier v. Fordham |
|
Mar 02, 2010 - 3:06 PM - by Muskie
|
|
One more regular season conference game on the road. Who ya go?
|
|
8 Replies | 384 Views
|
|
|
» Online Users: 82 |
| 27 members and 55 guests |
| BandAid, bobbyboucher, brownlavender, dc_x, drudy23, eXdrummer, flatspat, gomuskiesgo1987, jdm2000, Joe Batters, Lamont Sanford, Muskie, Muskie91, Muskied, OSUMuskie, paulxu, PMI, QueensbridgeMF, Tardy Turtle, Titanxman04, X-man, Xavier, xavierick, xavierj, Xman95, xu2010, XUglow |
| Most users ever online was 618, 04-06-2009 at 04:15 PM. |
|
» 2009-2010 Schedule/Results |
|
|
|
