PDA

View Full Version : Musketeers get offensive versus Sacred Heart, 105-65



kyxu
11-22-2009, 12:40 PM
Musketeers get offensive versus Sacred Heart, 105-65
by Mike Damone

Though the first three foes Xavier has vanquished to open its 2009-10 season won’t be confused with tournament-caliber competition, it’s obvious Musketeer leaders Jason Love and Jordan Crawford won’t allow their team to take it easy.

Crawford yet again notched a career-high in points with 26, to go with three assists and zero turnovers. Crawford didn’t pull down as many boards (two), mostly because he didn’t have to. The senior Love pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds to go with 14 points and junior Jamel McLean added 13 boards to his eight points as the Musketeers ran away early from the Sacred Heart Pioneers (2-2) in a hegemonic 105-65 victory Saturday night at the Cintas Center.

It was the second-consecutive contest where the Musketeers had surpassed the century mark offensively, and the first time they had done so consecutive in consecutive games since 2007-08.

The Pioneers did score the first points of the affair off a dunk by Liam Potter (8 pts, 3 reb), and Potter did trim Xavier’s lead to just three, 9-6, a few moments later, but the contest would be decided soon after. Xavier started their scoring with an 8-0 run, thanks to five from junior Dante Jackson (7 pts, 3 reb), and then used a 21-4 run over a six minute span to put the game away in the first half.

Crawford got a steal and a jam on the break, following that up with a long three of his own to get the decisive run going. Sophomore Kenny Frease (14 pts, 4 reb) pushed Xavier’s lead to double digits for the first time when he jammed home a feed from classmate Brad Redford (9 pts, 2 ast) to make the score 16-6. Redford and Terrell Holloway (8 pts, 4 ast) each knocked down a three, Love converted on all four of his free-throw attempts and Crawford book-ended the run to stretch the Musketeers’ lead to 20, 30-10, with just under nine minutes to go in the first half.

Another steal and lay-up on the fastbreak from Crawford and a pair of free throws from Mark Lyons (12 pts, 4 ast) would give the Musketeers an insurmountable halftime margin, 50-24. Xavier shot an outstanding 58 percent from three in the first half, with five different Musketeers connecting from long range.

Though the Pioneers improved in the second half on their 30 percent first half shooting, the Xavier offense couldn’t be matched. A fastbreak lay-up from Love and a long three canned by Redford extended the Musketeers’ lead to 32, 62-30, 4:41 into the second half. A free throw and a lay-up from Lyons gave Xavier a 40-point lead, 87-47, with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Frease went on his own 5-0 run, scoring inside off an assist from McLean, followed by a hoop-and-foul to put Xavier up by 46, 94-48. On the next series, junior Andrew Taylor gave Xavier its largest lead of the night when he scored off a Holloway assist to go up by 48.

Brian Walsh, yet again, was responsible for putting Xavier into triple-digits with a bucket inside, and McLean helped punctuate the Xavier offensive output with a steal and jam with just under three minutes left. Xavier walk-on Johnny Mazza ignited the Xavier bench and what was left of the partisan crowd with a three to cap off the Musketeer scoring.

Corey Hassan was one of the few bright spots for the Pioneers, leading Sacred Heart with 22 points off 7-for-18 shooting along with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and three steals. Hassan came into the game averaging 28 points per, but in the game-deciding moments of the first half, he was hounded by Jackson and managed just seven points in the game’s first 20 minutes. Hassan was aided in the losing effort by Ryan Litke’s 12 points and five assists.

Though Love’s 14 points were relatively quiet, as most came when the game was already in hand, he was a monster on the glass, and teamed with McLean to turn in a dominating performance underneath. Xavier soundly thumped the Pioneers in rebounding, 48-22. Though Frease did not have quite the rebounding night against the undersized Pioneers as his frontcourt mates, he took advantage of his size on offense, scoring 14 off 6-of-9 shooting.

Xavier’s backcourt tandem of Holloway and Lyons continued to impress, as they managed the Xavier offense with precision, combining for eight assists to just one turnover. Lyons also had a solid evening from the line, going 8-for-10 at the charity stripe.

It’s an understatement that Xavier has been the more talented squad in its first three games, but it should be comforting for Chris Mack and Xavier fans that his team has not played down to its competition, has taken control early in its games and never let up.

The “gravy train” portion of Xavier’s non-conference schedule officially comes to a close now as the Musketeers take on the Big East foe Marquette Golden Eagles (3-0) at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida on Thanksgiving Day at 2 p.m. The Golden Eagles are coming off an 87-41 victory over Grambling State Tigers on Saturday.