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Success in St Louis!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/8/2008
Xavier needed a final millisecond tip-in from Derrick Brown to clip Saint Louis, 70-68, on the road Thursday night, but that's a whole lot preferrable to the cold shooting losses to the Billikens at Scottrade Center in 2006 and 2007. Purists may cringe over XU almost blowing a 16 point lead and there were problems, but bottom line that's 5 straight A-10 wins (3 in a row on the road) -- a 7-1 conference record at the halfway mark (1 game better than Saint Joe's) and a 19-4 overall record in the first week of February.
What did the Muskies do well? They dominated the first half, building a 35-22 lead. X attacked the basket with Josh Duncan and Derrick Brown scoring around the rim. The inside-out action left the 3 point shooters open and they capitalized. Defensively, X turned SLU into a perimeter only team. Stars Tommy Liddell and Kevin Lisch were neutralized thanks to an aggressive switching trapping man-to-man.
It wasn't all good for the Muskies. Jason Love ran into early foul trouble again and Duncan bailed him out. B.J. Raymond struggled again with his outside shot despite great looks and back-up guards Dante Jackson and Adrion Graves failed to contribute thus Sean Miller cut back on their playing time.
Saint Louis found their defensive mojo right after halftime and started to make shots. X would run out to a double digit lead and SLU would reel them back in. Maybe it was fatigue (Jackson and Graves combined for only 10 minutes while Stanley Burrell and Drew Lavender totaled 70), but the SLU traps plus their bigger guards seemed to wear XU down a bit.
Burrell made some bad decisions driving into double teams. Lavender picked up his dribble a couple times. Still both made key plays to help win the game. Burrell hit a leaning bank shot in the lane late and Lavender's coast to coast drive starting with 11 seconds left scrambled the SLU defense (they couldn't foul) and set-up Brown's game winning stick back.
Raymond stepped up also and made a wing "3" plus two free throws. Derrick Brown drained two 3-pointers. Future opponents will see that on tape and panic. How do you guard him now?? Add up all the plusses and minuses and you get an exciting two point road victory.
Saint Joe's shows up at Cintas at Noon on Sunday. The Hawks will be playing their 4th game in 8 days. Wednesday they lost 102-88 at Duquesne playing without All-Conference center Ahmad Nivins. He sprained an ankle in last Monday's BIg 5 win over Villanova (77-55). Nivins' status for the Xavier game is uncertain.
SJU has other weapons. Rob Ferguson (#52) is a solid inside force who can pull out and shoot the "3". Pat Calathes (12) is a skilled 6-9 guard-forward hybrid who's been averaging a double-double lately. He's no longer a turnover waiting to happen.
Tasheed Carr (00) is a big guard who transferred in from Iowa State. He is a Philadelphia kid. (13) Darrin Govens is a strong perimeter shooter and steady guard. Phil Martelli calls (15) Garrett Williamson his 6th starter and quick penetrating guard D.J. Rivera (2) also plays important minutes off the bench.
It's guard by committee for the Hawks and the pieces are talented. A few years back it was the Jameer Nelson and Delonte West Show in the back court with everybody else supporting. Now St Joe's is more balanced with a potent inside game. Nivins' status is vital. If he plays, SJU is ever so hard to guard.
Atlantic 10 Notes:
Duquesne big man Shawn James posted a rare triple double against St Joe's (17 points, 10 blocks, 11 rebounds). He's a 6-10 transfer from Northeastern. The Dukes have another veteran 6-10 guy to pair with James (Keiron Achara). DU played a small scrambling line-up when they shocked XU and the league with a 5-game win streak in the middle of last season. Now they are big and explosive.
Charles Little returned to the Dayton line-up Wednesday night in their 69-64 win over Charlotte. He fit right in as 6th man with 16 points and 3 rebounds in only 19 minutes. Jimmie Binnie scored a career high 15 for the Flyers and Andre Sandoval played well. Super Frosh Chris Wright is still out after ankle surgery.
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