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kyxu
03-14-2009, 09:31 AM
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj89/xhoops/572a9104-8f8b-4944-8712-03e370ad712.jpgTemple of Doom: Xavier falls in semis again, 55-53
By Mike Damone

Whether it was a lack of urgency, or a mental block, the top-seeded Xavier Musketeers succumbed to fate Friday night in Atlantic City. For the third-consecutive year, the Musketeers (25-7) entered the Atlantic 10 Tournament as the #1 overall seed, but again failed to make it past the semifinals. The Musketeers also added to an 0-5 skid against Temple (21-11) in the conference tourney, falling 55-53 to the four-seed Owls in semifinal action of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Xavier began the game as if it were on a mission, hitting four of its first six shots in staking an early 11-4 lead. Junior Derrick Brown (19 pts, 7 reb) got Xavier on the board first with a short baseline jumper, then put the Musketeers up 5-0 when sophomore Dante Jackson (6 pts, 4 reb, 3 stl) stole the ball in the backcourt and fed Brown for a layup in transition. Brown would draw a foul on the score, and convert from the line.

Jackson shortly followed with a three from the wing, and senior BJ Raymond (18 points) splashed a three of his own to give Xavier the opening 7-point lead. But such early dominance exuded by Xavier was fleeting. Temple quickly responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 11, and the battle was on. Lavoy Allen (10 pts, 11 reb) scored four-straight points inside to tie it up for Temple with 12:52 left in the first half.

Xavier would never take more than a five-point lead throughout the game, and Brown broke a tie with 8:40 left in the first with a dunk and three-pointer to give Xavier the largest lead it would ever take, 23-18. Temple answered right back with an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the night, 26-25, when Sergio Olmos (5 pts, 4 reb) connected on a jumper.

The lead would change hands three more times with Allen hitting a jump shot with 1:26 left in the first to give the Owls a slim advantage, 31-30, heading into the break. Despite Xavier’s hot start, they went cold rather quickly, finishing the first half shooting just 11-for-32 at 34 percent.

Allen gave the Owls an early three-point lead, but Raymond knotted the affair up again with a three, and followed that with a two from the top of the key to give the Musketeers a lead that ultimately wouldn’t last. Raymond gave Xavier back the lead on three separate occasions in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Musketeers were unable to hold each time.

Raymond put Xavier up 43-40 with 11:16 remaining, but Semaj Inge (5 pts, 5 reb) knocked down a pair of free throws and Juan Fernandez (6 points) hit a short jumper to give Temple the lead back, 44-43. Junior Jason Love (2 pts, 6 reb) and Brown scored four-straight to give the Musketeers their last lead, 47-44, with 7:24 to go. It was at this point that Temple star Dionte Christmas (20 pts, 3 ast, 4 stl) took over.

Christmas knotted the game with a jumper and a free throw and Inge gave Temple the lead for good when he hit 1-of-2 from the stripe. Xavier was unable to regain the lead, as it went without a bucket for nearly three minutes.

Christmas emphatically ended both teams’ scoring drought with a dagger of a three to give Temple a four-point lead, 51-47, with 1:50 to go. After Raymond put in a pair of free throws to bring Xavier to within two, Christmas answered right back with another three to give Temple its largest lead, 54-49, with just over a minute left. Brown followed with a short jumper to bring Xavier to within three, 54-51, and Raymond had a chance to tie the game with a triple, but his attempt rimmed out.

The Musketeers were forced to foul on Temple’s next possession, and Christmas needed only to hit a single free throw – which he did – to put the game away. Raymond hit a meaningless shot in the waning seconds to provide the final margin.

Christmas led all scorers with 20 points, and Allen contributed a double-double for the Owls. While Brown and Raymond added 19 and 18 points, respectively, for Xavier, no other Musketeer contributed more than six. Most noticeably, senior CJ Anderson (0 pts, 5 ast, 2 reb) was absent from the score sheet, despite a superb effort in the previous game against Saint Louis in the quarterfinals. Anderson contributed no points for the first time in his Xavier career, going 0-for-9 from the field and 0-for-2 from the charity stripe.

The Musketeers shot a miserable 34.3 percent from the field, and went to the free-throw line just nine times, where they only connected on five. The 53 points scored for Xavier marked its lowest point total of the season.

Xavier must now wait for the Selection Committee to decide its fate for the NCAA Tournament. Though the Musketeers are believed to be a lock for an at-large bid, their seed is largely unknown. The NCAA Tournament selection will take place Sunday afternoon. The Owls will now look for a second-consecutive Atlantic-10 Tournament title as they face off against the 7-seed Duquesne Dukes, who defeated the 3-seed Dayton Flyers Friday night.