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Musketeers Clobber Virginia by 38
By
Jay Skeldon,
1/3/2008
Following the New Year's Eve drubbing of Kansas State, it was hard to imagine that Xavier could put together a more impressive first half of basketball. However, the Musketeers turned in a performance on Thursday night against Virginia that was even more scintillating, crushing the Cavaliers by 38 points, 108-70. Before a Cintas Center crowd of 10,073, Xavier senior guards Stanley Burrell and Drew Lavender led the charge with a game-high 15 and 13 points, respectively. The two also contributed a spectacular 13 assists while recording just one turnover as the Muskies improved to 11-3. Virginia, meanwhile, heads into ACC play with a 10-3 record.
The game was high energy, high flying, and hot shooting effort for the Musketeers. Xavier pounced on Virginia on the first play of the game and was an encapsulation of the terrific passing performance displayed throughout the game by the Muskies. Just after tip, Xavier's Derrick Brown exchanged a textbook give-and-go with Lavender that culminated in a Brown dunk.
Virginia quickly tied the game at two. But, with X holding a five point lead at 11-6 with 17:02 left in the half, the Musketeers up-shifted and went on a 27-6 run to increase the lead to 38-12 with 8:27 remaining. By half, X had beaten down UVA, stretching the lead to a numbing 31 points at 61-30.
After the dazzling, crowd-pleasing "Quick Change" half time show, fans were waiting to see if the Cavaliers would do a quick change of their own, and emerge from the locker room to go on a run. With 17:05 remaining in the game, Virginia's Mike Scott hit a deuce to cap a 7-2 UVA run and pull within 26. But, Xavier would quickly squash any hopes of a comeback as Lavender and Burrell strung together a 3-pointer, old fashioned 3-point play, and two free throws on consecutive plays.
After All-American candidate Sean Singletary hit a free throw with 14:39 to play, Xavier again threw in eight consecutive points on a Josh Duncan 3-pointer, pair of Duncan free throws, and another 3-pointer by B.J. Raymond. Two possessions later, Adrion Graves, who finished with five points, drilled a 3-pointer with 12:31 remaining to establish a 43 point lead -- its largest of the game.
As a team, Xavier continued to share the ball as it recorded a season-high 27 assists that resulted in 37 field goals. Effective passing, ball movement, and spacing on offense were a few of the reasons for Xavier's successful effort on the evening.
The abnormally high number of assists was also explained by X's blistering shooting from the field. Xavier converted 37-of-58 field goals for a smoking hot 63.8 percent. In addition, the X-Men nailed an eyepopping 16-of-26 3-point field goals (61.5%). Finally, XU was just as hot from the stripe, hitting 18-of-21 free throws for 85.7 percent.
For the second straight game, seven Musketeers finished in double figures scoring. Besides Lavender and Burrell, C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond added 12 points, Duncan and reserve center Charles Bronson threw in 11 -- a career high for Bronson -- and Jason Love added 10 points. Freshman guard Dante Jackson also established a new career high as he finished with seven points.
The Musketeers were also tough on the boards, outrebounding Virginia, 33-31. Brown pulled down a team-high seven boards, while C.J. Anderson and Jason Love snagged six apiece.
Virginia was led by Singletary who scored 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting and dished out seven assists.
Xavier rounds out its non conference slate on Sunday, January 6 as it travels to face the Auburn Tigers. Auburn (9-2), who have been hampered by injuries and are down to six scholarship players, are led by Quan Prowell (15.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Rasheem Barrett (14.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg). Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.
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