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kyxu
01-16-2010, 10:17 PM
Queen City futility continues for Dayton, Xavier survives, 78-74
by Mike Damone

Five presidential administrations have ended, five Xavier coaches have left Victory Parkway and 29 years have passed since the Dayton Flyers bested the Xavier Musketeers in Cincinnati on January 10, 1981. With the Flyers coming in to Saturday morning’s contest carrying nearly 30 years of frustration against their archrival Musketeers, it should have been little trouble for Xavier in dispatching its conference rival, right?

Dayton entered Saturday’s game as one of the top rebounding teams in the conference, sporting nearly a five-rebound margin over its opponents. The second-chance opportunities provided to Dayton were nearly a recipe for the streak-breaker, but the Musketeers simply provided too much offense, specifically from long-range, to survive a late Dayton rally to defeat the Flyers for the eighth time in nine tries, 78-74, Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.

Dayton owned the boards in the first half, 24-16, and made the most of multiple offensive opportunities with 13 offensive rebounds to Xavier’s one, establishing a 39-36 lead at the intermission.

Xavier rolled out of the half with a quick 5-0 run to take the lead. Jordan Crawford (17 pts, 4 ast) canned a three from the wing on Xavier’s second possession of the half, and Terrell Holloway (17 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast) drove and scored on a lay-up to put Xavier on top, 41-39.

Kurt Huelsman (5 pts, 2 reb) later gave the Flyers the lead back, scoring on a fastbreak jam while getting fouled and making good on the free throw to put Dayton up three, 46-43.

Dante Jackson (19 pts, 5 reb) – the game’s Blackburn-McCafferty MVP – provided a tremendous offensive spark for the Musketeers, picking the pocket of Chris Wright (10 pts, 9 reb) and going in for a jam to put Xavier up three, 49-46. After Dayton’s Luke Fabrezius (6 pts, 3 reb) answered with a triple, Jackson responded with a three of his own to put the Musketeers back up, 52-49, with 14:28 to go.

After Chris Johnson (10 pts, 16 reb) cut the Xavier lead, Jackson extended the Musketeer advantage and ignited the partisan crowed with another three, 55-51. An arching three from Brad Redford (6 pts, 2 ast) gave Xavier its largest lead to that point, 62-57, with under nine minutes to go, but an offensive rebound by Wright kept the Flyers’ possession alive and Rob Lowery (13 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast) canned a three to cut Xavier’s lead to one, 62-61.

Crawford then took control, splashing a three from the wing, and hitting a short jumper in the paint over Dayton defenders to put Xavier up, 67-61, with 5:17 to go. Wright trimmed Dayton’s deficit with a free throw, but Mark Lyons (2 points) drove and scored to give Xavier its largest lead to that point, 69-62.

With Xavier clinging to a five-point lead after a pair of Wright free throws with under three minutes to go, Crawford held the ball way beyond the perimeter with the shot clock winding down. Just a few ticks remained when Crawford heaved a deep, desperation trey that ripped twine and gave the Musketeers the largest margin of the game, 72-64.

The Flyers went for nearly six minutes without a field goal, but kept close from the free-throw line in the game’s final minutes. Wright brought Dayton to within three when he was fouled while scoring inside, and cashed in on the free throw, 74-71, with under a minute to go.

Xavier aimed to run clock while looking for a good shot when they called a timeout with 30 seconds to go. With just 13 seconds left and the shot clock about to expire, Crawford looked as if he was throwing up another desperation heave when he took a fadeaway jumper that was heavily contested, but the shot was true, making it a two-possession game with Xavier up 76-71.

Another offensive rebound for the Flyers kept their late possession alive, allowing Marcus Johnson to drop a straight-away three, but Holloway was fouled on the ensuing possession, putting the game out of reach with a pair of free throws to provide the final margin.

Xavier held the lead for the contest’s final 15-plus minutes, but the game endured 10 ties and seven lead changes. The Flyers were the clear aggressor in the first half, controlling the tempo and making Xavier’s leads short-lived.

Jackson gave Xavier its first lead of the game, 4-3, with a triple, but Dayton soon answered back with a deep three from Fabrizius with 16:21 to go in the first half. Lowery broke a 17-all tie with a three and Marcus Johnson nailed a short jumper off a fastbreak to put Dayton up five, 22-17.

Soon after Dayton took a five-point lead, Crawford picked up his third foul and seemed to doom Xavier with him heading to the bench. Instead, the Musketeers went on a 9-0 run to take a two-point lead. Holloway and Andrew Taylor (4 pts, 3 reb) each hit a pair of free throws, and Redford swished a three on a fastbreak to give Xavier the lead with just over eight minutes left in the first half. Holloway extended Xavier’s lead, 26-22, with a pair of free throws with 7:05 left.

With Wright on the bench with foul trouble of his own, however, Dayton would not be outdone, going on a 13-2 run to regain control. Marcus Johnson scored nine on the run, with six of those coming from the line. The Musketeers kept the game close during offensive droughts from the free-throw line, where they were an outstanding 18-for-19 in the first half. Xavier connected on six-consecutive attempts to cut Dayton’s margin before the half, 39-36.

The Musketeers, for the most part, were out of sorts in the first half, going just 3-for-16 from the field inside the arc. Dayton’s ball-hawking defense and swarming interior prevented Xavier from getting any easy looks besides three-point shots, where Xavier shot 50 percent.

Most of all, Dayton absolutely dominated Xavier on the glass in the first half, manifest in six first-half offensive boards from Chris Johnson alone, who was a nightmare for Xavier guards to keep off the boards. Johnson finished with 16 rebounds along with 10 points, and Dayton thumped Xavier on the glass, 51-34.

As impressive as Chris Johnson was for the Flyers, Jackson seemed to provide the will to keep Xavier in front despite the Flyers’ spirited charge. For the second-straight year, Jackson was awarded the Blackburn-McCafferty MVP at the Cintas Center for his career-high 19 points and five rebounds in his team’s victory.

Holloway followed with 17 points, Crawford with 16 and Jason Love (10 pts, 8 reb, 6 blk) with 10. Love was key in Xavier’s second-half defensive improvement, protecting the basket with a game-high six blocks.

The Flyers shot just 32 percent in the second half, while Xavier improved on their 29 percent first-half shooting with a 48 percent performance in the second half. Marcus Johnson led four flyers in double figures with his 17 points, followed by 13 from Lowery and 10 apiece from Wright and Chris Johnson.

The win keeps the Musketeers alone atop the A-10 standings at 4-0, but Xavier’s place in the standings will be heavily tested as it travels to Philadelphia to take on the #19 Temple Owls. The Owls (15-3, 3-0) are coming off a 76-64 win over UMass. Xavier bested the Owls, 83-74, in last year’s meeting in Cincinnati, but Temple paid back the Musketeers with a 55-53 win in the semi-finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament

American X
01-17-2010, 11:52 AM
Nice work, Damone. Better than the barely-there Enquirer story.