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Muskies Post That "Signature" Road Victory!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/14/2010
Beating Florida in Gainesville certainly qualifies as a "BIG DEAL" for XU. The Gators seldom lose to anybody at their place especially non-conference. The Rowdy Reptile Student section welcomes each visiting starter as he's introduced with the chant "Gatorbait". Well, this time the Bait bit back!! The Muskies won going away 76-64. The quality "W" neutralizes the sour taste of last Saturday's flat 90-65 loss at Dayton. It solidifies Xavier's RPI at 20 and gives XU nine wins in their last 11 games. The positive performance played well on ESPN. The highlights were featured on a whole mess of SportsCenters.
The coaches used the week between games and the bad vibes from Dayton to fine tune the Muskies. They played physical scrappy defense and bounced Gator bodies on both boards.
The 3 "BIGS" Jason Love, Jamel McLean and Kenny Frease turned in their best collective performance (40 points-26 rebounds). McLean tied a career high with 13 boards. The SEC officials did their best to limit Love but Jason schooled 6-10 UF post man Vernon Macklin anyway (20 points-10 rebounds in just 22 minutes).
Frease played like a 7-footer. His snarling monster dunk with 8:16 left gave XU a five point lead. He canned two critical medium range jumpers late in the shot clock and totaled 12 points. Kenny thrived at SEC LSU last January.
Xavier started well and consistently built a 38-22 lead. Florida cut the advantage to 40-33 at the half. Both Love and Dante Jackson had to sit with foul trouble. X handled the Florida full court pressure well and solved the Gator zone also.
There were no suprises. UF made it nip and tuck midway through the second half but XU grabbed the game by the throat late. Jordan Crawford scored on an acrobatic base line drive and drilled the FT to put the Muskies ahead 65-59 with 2:51 left. Florida was forced to jack-up poor shots and Love and McLean sealed off and controlled the rebounds.
Terrell Holloway shredded the desperation Gator press and made the free throws. He was rammed into press row at one point and his shoulder broke apart a wooden advertising panel.
The Muskies celebrated on the floor after the win. Jason Love mimicked the "Gator Chop" used incessantly by the student section.
300 to 400 XU fans found tickets for the game. It was an impressive turn-out. Good friend Bob Ryan welcomed his old friends Bill and Ruth Gorman from Ocala, Florida. Bill attended XU. Ruth did graduate work at Florida. Ryan claims to have converted her into a Xavier follower. With Ryan's persistence and gift of gab I believe him.
Xavier is 17-7 overall, 8-2 in the A-10, tied for second with Temple and Charlotte, a half game back of Richmond (9-2). The Muskies have 6 games left in the league and the regular season.
Saint Joe's is at Cintas Wednesday (7:30 - Fox Spots Ohio). The Hawks are struggling without Ahmad Nivins. They're 9-15 (3-7 in the A-10). SJU has been a disaster on the road. They did beat Dayton 60-59 on Hawk Hill a couple weeks ago.
St Joe's is the last A-10 team to beat XU at Cintas (March 2006). Since then, Xavier has won 29 in a row against the league.
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