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X Falls to Marquette at Disney
By
Jay Skeldon,
11/26/2009
After starting the year having won their first three games in the friendly confines of Cintas Center by an average margin of 36 points, the Musketeers faced their stiffest competition of the season from Marquette on Thursday afternoon. The Golden Eagles outlasted Xavier, 71-61, in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic at the Milk House in Walt Disney World.
Xavier senior captain Jason Love turned in a yeoman like effort, recording career highs of 21 points and 19 rebounds in the losing effort. Love blocked five shots, matching a previous career best. The loss, XU's first of the year, drops the team to 3-1 while Marquette improves to a perfect 5-0.
Xavier opened the game with a promising 7-1 lead. However, the Golden Eagles fought back with a 13-7 run in the last six minutes of the first half to lead 33-29.
After intermission, Xavier was able to tie the game and take the lead 37-36 with 17:16 left in the game. The teams battled back and forth as the lead changed several times over the next nine minutes of action. MU gained control of the game in the latter part of the second half, eventually leading to the 10 point win.
Love was joined in double-figures scoring by guard Mark Lyons who added 11 points off the bench. The two players were the only Muskies to reach double digits in the scoring column.
Xavier was cold shooting from the outside, hitting a season low 25-of-69 shots from the field for 36.2 percent. The team was even cooler from behind the arc, knocking in just five threes (5-of-17 for 29.4%). The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, hit 45.1 percent from the field including 58.3 percent of its treys.
Despite outrebounding Marquette by a healthy 48-32 margin, Xavier was sloppy with the basketball. It turned the ball over a season-high 20 times including nine from Xavier's starting guards. Marquette also swiped 11 steals from X.
Another key difference in the game was X did not consistently draw contact and find a way to get to the foul line, as evidenced by the disparity between the teams at the foul line. Xavier got to the line just 11 times, while converting just six of those attempts. The opposition made it to the line 27 times, draining 18 of those free throws.
Marquette was led by Lazar Hayward, who was unable to be contained by the X-Men. He scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-22 shooting in 31 minutes of action. Jimmy Butler added 15 points and six rebounds.
With the defeat, Xavier drops to the loser's bracket of the holiday tournament. The Muskies will go head to head with Creighton on Friday. The Blue Jays lost earlier in the day to Michigan in overtime. Tip-off for Friday's game is set for 2:30 p.m., and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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