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X Routs Auburn on the Road
By
Jay Skeldon,
1/6/2008
For the third game in a row, the Musketeers exhibited an offensive barrage. The latest victim was the Auburn Tigers on Sunday afternoon. The Musketeers nailed 16 3-point field goals en route to another impressive victory, winning 80-57 over the Tigers at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum in Auburn, Alabama. XU junior B.J. Raymond led all scorers with a game-high 18 points, including 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. With the win, the Musketeers move their record to 12-3 and close the book on the challenging non conference slate, which Xavier fared exceptionally well. The short-handed Tigers, which played with just six scholarship players, fell to 9-3.
With the win, Xavier has now won four straight games -- against Delaware State, Kansas State, Virginia, and Auburn. The wins, which came against major conference teams including the Big 12, ACC, and SEC, were by an impressive 29.5 point average margin.
The Musketeers got out to a quick start thanks to three 3-pointers by Stanley Burrell (1) and Drew Lavender (2) in the first three and half minutes of action. Auburn fought back to take the lead, 12-11, with 15:15 left in the half. It extended its lead to its largest of the game (3 points) with 14:20 left.
Then Xavier got busy. The Musketeers went on a 25-5 run over the next 10 minutes of action to take command of the game at 36-17. The X-Men took a 25-42 lead into half time.
After intermission, the Tigers scrapped back into the game with an 11-0 run to pull within six at 42-36 with 15:49 left. But, Xavier showed some much needed resolve in a hostile road environment. The Muskies responded with a 13-0 run of their own to move ahead 55-36 with 13:00 left. From that point, the game was in hand and the only question remaining was by how much Xavier would win. X would stretch its lead to as high as 33 points before finishing with the 23-point road win.
The win was another balanced scoring effort for the X-Men who shot an impressive 58.7% (27-of-46) from the field including 61.5% (16-of-26) from behind the arc. Drew Lavender added 15 and five assists in the win. Stanley Burrell (13 points), Josh Duncan (12 points), and Derrick Brown (11 points) rounded out the double-digit scoring for the X-Men.
The Musketeers shared the ball extremely well, dishing out 22 assists. XU won the battle of the boards 34-24; Brown led the Muskie effort on the glass with seven rebounds, while Duncan and Jason Love added five each.
Auburn was led by Frank Tolbert, Rasheem Barrett, and Lucas Hargrove who scored 11 points apiece.
The Musketeers return to action on Wednesday, January 9 against St. Bonaventure to open Atlantic 10 conference action. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at Cintas Center.
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