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View Full Version : #3 Musketeers outlast #6 Boilers for third Sweet Sixteen, 75-68



kyxu
03-22-2008, 08:33 PM
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj89/xhoops/9c40d258-2afe-47e8-94f4-efceb5e9-1.jpg #3 Musketeers outlast #6 Boilers for third Sweet Sixteen, 75-68
by Mike Damone

It was no secret that a season steeped in so much promise would only go as far as Xavier’s three seniors would take it. If Saturday night’s game against #6 Purdue (25-9) was any indication, the Xavier Musketeers (29-6) may keep rolling. The Musketeers’ senior class – Stanley Burrell, Josh Duncan and Drew Lavender – combined for 45 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists in Xavier’s 75-68 win over the Purdue Boilermakers, clinching Xavier’s third trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen in the program’s history.

The key components were there for the Musketeers on Saturday: offensive balance, relentless defense, exceptional free-throw shooting and a victory on the defensive glass thanks to a tough inside presence. A warrior responsible in the latter categories could be none other than Xavier’s CJ Anderson who notched 18 points, seven rebounds, and when it mattered most, went inside and either scored, got fouled or scored and got fouled, where he went 6-for-8 from the line.

In Xavier’s backcourt, Lavender (18 pts, 9 assists) looked like the Drew that led Xavier to another 20+ win season and a dominant performance in the Atlantic 10 regular season. Purdue’s defense came into the game forcing 17.8 turnovers per game, but a seemingly-healed Lavender made the Musketeers virtually unpressable. Burrell, once again, played his typical stout defense, helping force Purdue into 38.8 percent shooting, while still chipping in 11 points.

So much has been made of Burrell’s evolution, but maybe not enough about that of Duncan (16 pts, 5 reb), whose occasional absence due to foul trouble was made visible when Purdue was able to corral second-chance points, yet made his presence felt with drives and finishes to the lane when the three-point shot wasn’t open. It was Duncan’s play inside which kept the Boilermakers honest and allowed the Musketeers to foul out three Purdue players.

And there may have been no greater mark of Xavier’s senior leadership than when Purdue jumped out to an early 9-0 advantage off 75 percent shooting in the first three minutes. Purdue had a sticky defense of their own that made Xavier’s offense ineffective early on, as the Musketeers made just one of their first seven field goals. A Danté Jackson foul on a lay-up by Purdue’s Tarrance Crump (11 points) allowed Purdue to take their largest lead of the game, 12-2, with 14:42 left.

From that point on, Xavier regained control of the game by tightening the screws on their defense and forcing Purdue to individually take Xavier’s defenders off the dribble, which allowed the Musketeers to utilize their advantage in quickness, often leading to bad Purdue shots. This defensive effort paved the way to a 21-6 Xavier run that spanned seven minutes and gave Xavier a 23-18 lead.

On the run, Xavier went perfect from the free-throw line, and repeatedly attacked the inside with Anderson, Duncan, Jason Love (8 pts, 5 reb) and Derrick Brown (8 points). A few highlights from the Xavier spurt included a bounce pass by Lavender that went through the legs of a Purdue defender and into the hands of Love where he would finish and get fouled, making good on the free-throw attempt to make the score 18-13 in favor of Purdue.

BJ Raymond (6 pts, 6 reb) dropped a three just under the 10-minute mark to make the score 18-16, before Duncan tied the score off a feed from Anderson, then gave Xavier the lead from the left wing with a three, 21-18. A Lavender fall-away three just before the intermission horn sounded gave Xavier a three-point halftime lead, 35-32.

Out of the half, a Keaton Grant (19 pts) three tied the game, 35-35, but Xavier once again turned up the heat on defense while taking off on an 8-2 run, keyed by six points from Anderson. A pair of free throws from Duncan gave Xavier their largest lead of the game, 58-48, but Purdue would go on a 13-2 run, capped by an E’Twaun Moore (15 pts, 5 reb) jumper, to take a 61-60 lead with just 5:42 left in the game.

Xavier wasn’t rattled. Perhaps the biggest play of the second half came when Raymond knocked in a short jumper from the inside, got fouled and converted on the free throw to set the Musketeers on a 7-0 run that gave them the lead for good. A Scott Martin (6 pts, 6 reb) lay-up kept Purdue to within six, 72-66, with just under two minutes left. Out of the Purdue timeout, however, the Boilermakers attempted to press the Musketeers, which Lavender easily beat down the floor and fed Duncan for an easy jam to put Xavier up, 74-66.

Purdue got no closer than five, as Xavier kept the Boilermakers at arm’s length by salting the game away from the line. The Musketeers went 26-for-33 on the night from the charity stripe.

The Xavier Musketeers now join the 1990 and 2004 squads as the only Xavier teams to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers now face an old foe on Thursday in Bob Huggins when Xavier takes on his #7 West Virginia Mountaineers in Phoenix for a chance to advance to the Elite Eight. The Mountaineers (26-10) are coming off a thrilling upset of the #2 Duke Blue Devils.

joebba
03-22-2008, 09:53 PM
Loved the article.

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