|
Fordham Falls Flat as Muskies Make Music
By
Jim Skeldon,
1/31/2010
 | Jason Love gets a close-up look at Jamel McLean’s dunk.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | "Deadeye" - Sophomore Brad Redford lines-up his free throw for one of his 11 points.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Jordan Crawford hits a fall-away jumper on his way to scoring 23 points to lead the Musketeers in scoring.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Kenny Frease collects two of his 14 points by slamming in a basket.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Brian Walsh looks for the rim as he goes to the basket.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | The Fordham defense waves to Mark Lyons as he drives the lane for two points.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
Entering the Fordham game the Musketeers could have been worried against being lulled into a deep sleep. After all, the Rams from N.Y. City were sporting a 2-17 overall record and 0-7 in the Atlantic 10 League. They didn’t figure on being much of a challenge for Coach Chris Mack’s troops.
They were positioned in the middle of the pack or lower in every one of the league stats except offense rebounds, where they were only bettered by U-Mass and Duquesne.
In contrast Xavier and Temple were 9th and 10th respectively. Well as it turned out, Fordy didn’t get enough offensive rebounds or stick-backs as the X squad buried the visitors by a final score of 108-60. Nobody looked like they were sleep walking for XU but rather taking it to the younger squad. XU looked to be teaching them a lesson on who’s who in the conference.
The first place Xavier team upped its record to 7-1 in the league while going 15-6 overall. Meanwhile the 2-18 Rams are still winless in league play at 0-8.
The Fordham five were led by the 6-7 brilliant sensation and freshman Chris Gaston. He had 17 first half points and finished with 23 for the game. However, like some freshman play at times, he recorded nine turnovers.
Brenton Butler, a senior, tallied 13 points for the only other double digit scorer on the day for Fordham.
The Muskies led at halftime, 45-32. The small 13 point margin may have been a result of the Musketeers trying to do it from mainly beyond the arc. The scoring was dominated by 17 first half markers by Jordan Crawford. Jamel McClean and Kenny Frease each chipped In with 6 points as well.
The second half was a unique and different half. Maybe Coach Mack said, "you will feed the post," or "the centers need to get involved," or whatever the technique, it worked. McClean, Frease and Jason Love combined for 36 points, 22 in the second half.
McLean had a game total of 16 tallys and Frease had another good game garnering 14 scores and eight big rebounds.
Terrell Holloway directed the attack with a career high 10 assists. Jordan Crawford ended up with a team high 23 points in only twenty six minutes as he shared the ball nicely.
Super sophomore Brad Redford was 3-6 from treyland and scored 11 off the bench.
Other huge contributions were from subs Brian Walsh, Joe Hughes and Jeff Robinson. Joe "GT" Hughes scored 7 large points in approximately two minutes making him the most proficient scorer for time played in the game.
Robinson had six points and Walsh had four in relief duty.
Additionally, Mark Lyons turned in a nice performance at both ends defending well, dishing out three assists and scoring 6 along the way.
All in all the second half margin grew a convincing 35 points over the first half as X cruised to the win by 48 points in a real team effort.
Other key Xavier facts were the team had 26 assists for the day and only nine turnovers for the game compared to 21 for the Rams.
XU out rebounded the Fordham contingent by a margin of 13. X had 41 boards compared to only 28 for Fordham. Credit Love, McClean and Frease on a good team effort.
The Muskies will next take a trip to the campus of UMass where the Minutemen will play host to the Xavier ball club . The game will be held on Februrary 3, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports Ohio.
|
