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kyxu
01-03-2009, 04:39 PM
#22 Musketeers strike quick, hold on in Charlottesville, 84-70
by Mike Damone

In their first true road game away from Cincinnati, the #22 Xavier Musketeers (11-2) used a 19-0 first-half run to wake from an offensive funk, race to a 23-8 lead and effectively put away the Virginia Cavaliers (6-5) early at John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville. The Musketeers started cold from the field, missing their first nine shots over the first five minutes of the game and allowing the Cavaliers to take an early 6-0 lead.

But senior BJ Raymond got the scoring started for the Musketeers with a lay-up and freshman Brad Redford (6 points) later knocked down two consecutive buckets – one of which his trademark long three – to give Xavier its first lead, 9-8, with 13:18 left in the first half.

The Musketeers weren’t done, as Xavier scored the game’s next 14 points, thanks to a true team effort with a jumper from Raymond, a lay-in by junior Jason Love (3 pts, 7 reb), a jump shot from freshman Kenny Frease, a long three from sophomore Dante Jackson (13 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast), a lay-up from senior CJ Anderson (8 pts, 6 reb) and another three from Raymond to give Xavier a lead that proved insurmountable.

With 7:42 left in the first half, the Cavaliers’ Mike Scott (16 pts, 5 reb) hit a jumper that cut Xavier’s lead to 25-15, but Frease answered with a three, followed by a jumper from Raymond to make the score 30-15. The Cavaliers would get no closer than 12 the rest of the afternoon, falling at home to the Musketeers, 84-70.

Raymond and Frease teamed for 23 first-half points, giving Xavier a 42-26 cushion at the half. Both teams started the second half sluggishly, but the Musketeers outscored the Cavs 18-6 over the first seven minutes of the second half to give Xavier their largest lead of the game at 60-32 with 13:02 left. Sophomore Jamel McLean (5 pts, 5 reb) had five points in the run, and Frease rattled the rim with a jam off a feed from freshman Terrell Holloway (4 pts, 3 ast). Junior Derrick Brown (8 pts, 3 reb) followed with a thundering dunk of his own, and Raymond layed it in soon after to cap the run.

Though quiet for most of the game, Virginia’s super-freshman Sylven Landesburg scored 12 points over the game’s final eight minutes to make things interesing. With Xavier leading 70-49 with just under eight minutes left, Landesberg, Mustapha Farrakhan and Assane Sene began scoring from inside, outside and from the line to trim Xavier’s lead to just 12, 82-70, but the run would ultimately come too late.

Landesburg lead all scorers with 25 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Raymond scored a team-high 24 points and pulled down six boards, while Frease notched career-highs in points and rebounds with 13 and eight, respectively. Xavier held the Cavaliers to 37.5 percent from the field, and made the most of its size advantage inside, pulling down 39 rebounds to Virginia’s 31. Xavier also committed a season-low 10 turnovers.

The Musketeers will now begin Atlantic 10 Conference play on Thursday when they take on the St. Louis Billikens at 8 p.m. in Cincinnati. The Billikens (9-5) are coming off a 60-52 win over North Carolina A&T. In the two teams' previous meeting last February, SLU overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to tie the game with just seconds to go. But Derrick Brown's tip-in at the buzzer allowed Xavier to escape St. Louis with a 70-68 victory.