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Muskies Fade Late in Philly!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
1/27/2013
Timing is everything in life. Wednesday nite at Hagan Arena St Joe's lost 74-63 to St Bonnies. Hawks' coach Phil Martelli benched star senior guard Tay Jones at the start of the game for a team rules infraction. Sharpshooting junior guard Langston Galloway was poked in the eye and did not play in the second half. SJU shot 2-22 from 3 point range.
72 hours later against Xavier Jones was back in good graces. Galloway played the whole game. They combined for 30 points(vs 8 against the Bonnies) and scored 11 of SJU's last 12 points in a 59-49 win over the Muskies. And St Joe's went 10 of 24 from outside the arc. Mix in Brad Redford's illness( 0 points) and Justin Martin's back spasms(he'd been playing his best game since before Christmas) and you better understand the Xavier meltdown.
X led 49-47 with 3:58 left. SJU finished on a 12-0 run. XU's final 8 possessions were empty(0-5 FG plus 3 turnovers and no offensive rebounds). The Muskies sort of stood around and waited for Semaj Christon to do everything. Coach Martelli said he was pleased that his defense pushed Semaj to dribble laterally-east-west as he put it instead of north-south or straight to the rim. It certainly helped that Hawk defenders were allowed to hand check Semaj indiscriminately on every possession. Semaj shot only one FT despite his prominent offensive roll and XU never got into the bonus in the second half(5 SJU team fouls) even though the Muskies held the lead most of the way. A bit ridiculous!!
But that's life on the road in the A-10. Bottom line-Xavier scored a paltry 49 points. Xavier won the rebound numbers decisively again and took more shots, but X was woeful from "3"(1-13) and coughed the ball up down the stretch with alarming ease.
There were positives!! Semaj was terrific as usual. Martin put up great numbers (8 points-5 rebounds-2 blocks) and made heady plays until he tweaked his back and was limited to 20 minutes. Jeff Robinson came up BIG against SJU's athletic front line (8 points-10 rebounds). Isiah Philmore competed well inside. He was robbed of a stickback basket and a potential free throw on a bizarre officiating call late in the first half. Landen Amos took Galloway out of circulation whenever he guarded him. It's unfortunate that X plays 4 on 5 offensively when Landen is on the floor because he's a terrific defender and makes momentum changing hustle plays.
Xavier sits 4-2 in the Atlantic 10 in a 5 way tie for second with Charlotte,VCU,LaSalle,and GW a half game back of Butler(4-1). 10 league games are left with Dayton next at Cintas Wednesday(9PM-CBS Sports Network). The Karen Carns Foundation is hosting a Pregame reception at the XU Alumni Center on Dana Ave starting at 6:30. Food and drinks are included plus basketball talk with Mike DeCourcy(Sporting News) and Seth Davis(CBS-Sports Illustrated). It's $25 at the door with free parking for the game. UD has won two straight at home over Fordham and Duquesne, More info on the Flyers coming soon to this space.
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