|
Muskies Grind Out
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/11/2008
The Enquirer's Dustin Dow is back from his honeymoon and sharper than ever. Paul Daugherty decided to write a column on XU-Saint Joe's for Monday's paper. It's all good! Xavier's getting great ink because they are winning, but it makes unique story lines harder to come up with for yours truly. Here goes!! The Muskies fashioned a 9-point halftime lead over SJU despite being outrebounded by 5 and being outscored from the free throw line by 4. These are hustle driven stat categories Xavier usually dominates.
That 9 point lead vanished quickly after halftime (tied 43-43 with only 3:48 gone). The Hawks led 60-53 with 8:50 left in regulation. X was turning the ball over at an alarming rate. Saint Joe's wound up with a bunch of points off turnovers (20) and a bunch more on second and third chances (19) because of a fat 14-5 edge in offensive rebounds.
SJU still led 72-68 with 2:15 left in the game. They seemed to be playing better?? Without their all conference caliber center Ahmad Nivins (fouled out, favoring a sprained right ankle).
How in the world did Xavier ever win this game? Grit, defense, and halfcourt offensive execution down the stretch. The Hawks got their slashing and cutting game flowing without Nivins but when possessions became precious late they missed him mightily as an inside option. SJU tried to throw it into the Russian sub Lidzius once and he turned it over.
We're used to Drew Lavender closing out games for the Muskies when X has the lead. They spread the floor and let Drew operate. In this game with XU behind it was Stanley Burrell time. Sean Miller switched Burrell to guard 6-9 Pat Calathes with about 8 minutes left. Calathes posted up 6-3 Stanley once successfully then Burrell adjusted and locked him up. Calathes is a strong personality. He kept forcing the issue and Stanley just took him right out of the game. The Hawks let Rob Ferguson starve.
Here's how the final 2 plus minutes went. Burrell set-up Josh Duncan for a close-in basket. He made a tough shot in traffic and was fouled. Josh swished the free throw. 72-71 SJU. Burrell forced a Calathes miss with sticky defense, drove up the right side and took the ball to the hoop. He passed up a speed lay-up and zipped the ball to Lavender on the left wing -- inside-out. Lavender flipped to B.J. Raymond wide-open in the left corner - swish on the 3 pointer-74-72 X leads with about 45 ticks left.
Again,Burrell locks-up Calathes. SJU tries to run some offense but with under 20 to go Burrell gets a steal, Calathes fouls him in a scramble for the ball, Stanley plops both free throws and X wins 76-72.
Saint Joe's is outscored 8-zip in the final 2:15!! The complete antithesis of what happened in the melt down loss to Tennessee or that still excruciating NCAA defeat by Ohio State.
This Xavier team can win in a lot of different ways. The scoring balance has been well documented with 6 players averaging in double figures. Rebounds are also well spread out. This group can play sticky stingy defense without piling up the fouls. They can make free throws under pressure. They can bomb away from 3 point range. I wish they had a legitimate 6-11 low post behemouth, but Duke is pretty good without one.
I wish Dante Jackson could eat up a few more minutes at the point to allow Drew Lavender more rest. (Dante actually played 5 terrific minutes in the first half against Saint Joe's with 5 points, a nifty assist along the baseline,a steal and some very physical perimeter defense fighting through those never ending SJU screens). X showed its best energy in that first half with Jackson on the floor. When Xavier stagnated early in the second half, I thought Sean Miller might sub in Jackson early. The coach refrained. He decided to win or lose with his seniors. He's forgotten more basketball than I'll ever know and he wound up winning.
Xavier has forged a two game lead in the extremely competitive Atlantic 10 (8-1 vs SJU and Rhode Island at 6-3).
The next few games will be challenging. The Muskies play at Charlotte Wednesday. The 49ers are tied for 4th -- the last first round tournament bye spot -- with Temple at 5-3. Charlotte is 10-2 at home with wins over Wake Forest, Davidson, Southern Illinois, Temple and Saint Joe's. The only losses at Halston Arena are to Maryland and Richmond. Charlotte also won at Clemson.
They live by the "3". Leemire Goldwire takes 30% of their shots and averages 20 ppg. He poured in a career high 39 Saturday at St. Bonnies in a tight 87-83 Charlotte victory. Expect a sell-out (over 9,000) Wednesday.
Coach Bobby Lutz has rebuilt his roster quickly. He starts two Jucos (2), Charlie Coley, and (15) Lamont Mack in the front court plus one frosh (21) An'Juan Wilderness. All are 6-7ish and athletic.
The point guard is shared between (3) Dijuan Harris and Pepperdine transfer(1) Michael Gerrity.
X needs to play well to beat Charlotte on the road.
Next Monday it's URI at their place. They are 20-4 overall with size and scoring and depth and a master coach Jim Baron.
Two wins would be a thing of beauty.
|
|
