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kyxu
03-14-2008, 11:25 PM
Ice-cold effort equals semifinal exit for #10 Xavier, 61-53
By Mike Damone

The story within the story of the #10 Xavier Musketeers’ (27-6) postseason seemed to be the throwing of the gauntlet by senior Stanley Burrell just a few days ago; a promise that this year’s Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Atlantic City became personal. It was a promise galvanized by a lack of respect not only from the national media who often relegated the ranked Musketeers to overachieving “mid-majors”, but also by Xavier’s peers within the conference, who had placed nary a Musketeer on the final Atlantic 10 First-team roster.

After a second-consecutive semifinal exit from the conference tournament, in addition to the third-consecutive time the Xavier Musketeers failed to even reach the Championship game after being given the one-seed, the outspoken senior’s words now seem somewhat hollow. The St. Joseph’s Hawks (21-11), playing with perhaps more motivation and purpose in Saturday night’s semifinal match-up, were clearly the aggressor on both ends of the floor.

The Hawks forced a typically exceptional outside-shooting team in Xavier to an astounding seven percent from three-point range, and just 36.5 percent total from the field. St. Joe’s aggressive man-to-man defense also forced the Musketeers to settle for many outside shots, which were wholly ineffective, that often culminated long offensive possessions.

On offensive for St. Joseph’s, the Hawks’ dominating front line forced Burrell and Derrick Brown (6 pts, 8 reb) into early foul trouble, where the Hawks were perfect from the line in the first half. Pat Calathes (24 pts, 8 reb) and Ahmad Nivins (15 pts, 6 reb) forced several and-one plays to prevent any defensive momentum for Xavier early on.

Xavier never led in this semifinal match-up, which was St. Joe’s second victory over the Musketeers in just eight days, the first of which was a 71-66 Hawk victory in Philadelphia. A CJ Anderson (8 points) lay-up tied the score at 2 with 17:28 left in the first period, and a Burrell steal and lay-up knotted the score at 20 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half, which happened to be Xavier’s final tally before the intermission.

Just 20 seconds after Burrell’s tying bucket, a Rob Ferguson (11 points) jumper began a 15-0 SJU run, which spanned halftime, and the Hawks never relented. Eight minutes passed before the Musketeers would ever score again, which came in the form of two Josh Duncan free throws, cutting St. Joe’s lead to 35-22.

A late rally brought the Musketeers to within five, 54-49, but Calathes put Xavier’s Atlantic 10 Tournament hopes to bed with a coast-to-coast drive and jam to extend the lead back to seven with just over a minute left. Jason Love (10 pts, 9 reb) was one of the few efficient Musketeers on the offensive end, but with Xavier’s inability to stop St. Joe’s in key moments, they were forced to settle for long shots late in the game, which did not fall.

Fortunately, the Musketeers will not have to sweat Selection Sunday in the same manner as they did last March. Because of Xavier’s strong regular season performance, they are all but guaranteed an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. However, the Musketeers had high hopes for possibly a two-seed just two weeks ago – which would increase the likelihood of Xavier hanging around in the Big Dance beyond the first weekend – but have done themselves no favors with the two losses in the past eight days. St. Joseph’s advances to the Atlantic 10 Championship game Saturday night to face the Temple Owls (20-12). The Hawks are looking for their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2004, where they earned a one-seed.