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Muskies Hush Charlotte!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
1/29/2012
Xavier regrouped nicely Saturday, posting a 74-70 Atlantic 10 road win at Charlotte. The Muskies advance to fifth in the closely bunched conference race - a half game behind tri-leaders UMass, La Salle and St Bonnies at 5-2 with Temple at 4-2, St Louis and Dayton trail XU by a half game at 4-3. X has 8 A-10 games remaining (4 away - starting Wednesday night at GW and 4 at Cintas). Xavier started well-played much more cohesive defense and ran solid ball sharing uptempo offense against Charlotte after losing 66-62 at Halton Arena last season. The 49ers tried to zone the Muskies as they had successfully a year earlier but XU attacked the zone aggressively and pounded the offensive glass.
Dez Wells scored 3 straight buckets inside (a baseline drive and two stickbacks) with the game on the line in the late going. Dez finished with an efficient 12 points (6-of-8 shooting) plus 7 rebounds in his homecoming to North Carolina.
Tu Holloway returned to his old game closing form - scoring 17 with 7 assists. Xavier spread the floor late and let Tu operate. The Muskies created a ton of easy two point baskets inside outscoring UNCC 46-14 in the paint. The defense forced 14 turnovers that resulted in fast break scores.
Charlotte stayed alive thanks to a huge game from Javarris Barnet (27 points - 7-of-8 3-pointers) and a 20-11 edge in made FTs. XU has been burned consistently by big men burying 3 pointers off the pick and pop. SLU did it with Cody Ellis and Rob Loe. Temple used Scootie Randall last season. UD's Chris Johnson has been deadly over the years. The Muskies need to find a solution.
X really dominated Charlotte physically - positionally - but the three point barrage allowed the 49ers to hang around. More encouraging signs for Xavier!! Brad Redford drilled 3-of-5 3 pointers and slipped in to absorb a key charge.
Travis Taylor played his best game in ages-finishing around the rim-running the floor and defending well(8pts-3rebs). Kenny Frease did damage inside (12 and 4) and Mark Lyons shrugged off a poor shooting game chipping in 5 assists-3 steals and an explosive blocked shot against a Charlotte fast break.
Around the A-10: What a difference one week makes for the Dayton Flyers!! UD (4-3) was talking NCAA bid and taking over the Xavier rivalry after beating the Muskies in Dayton. Then UD lost badly Wednesday at St Joe's as we predicted here. Saturday, the Flyers faded again at home this time losing 86-81 to last place Rhode Island. Coaches' son Billy Baron (transfer from Virginia) scored 25 for the Rams.
Temple may be playing better than anybody in the A-10. The Owls have wins over Duke and Maryland since Jan 1. Now they're 4-2 in the league after trouncing St Joe's Saturday. 6-10 Michael Eric is playing again.
UMass took out SLU in Amherst to improve to 5-2, XU has to play at Temple and UMass.
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