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XU Back On Track Against Jays
By
Jay Skeldon,
11/27/2009
After a disappointing opening round loss in the Old Spice Classic to Marquette on Turkey Day, Xavier showed improvement and returned to the winning column. XU defeated Creighton, 80-67, on Friday afternoon before 3,660 fans at the Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando. Xavier regained its shooting touch and was led by sophomore guard Jordan Crawford, who scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field including 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Crawford has led the Muskies in scoring in each of its four wins. With the win, Xavier improves to 4-1 on the season while Creighton drops to 2-3.
The Musketeers opened the scoring on a Terrell Holloway layup with 18:51 left. From that point forward, the Musketeers never trailed. The game was close for the first ten minutes of the first half. Then Xavier reeled off an 8-0 run that included five points from Crawford and four from Andrew Taylor off the bench during the next two and half minutes that gave Xavier a 10 point lead, 31-21.
In the second half the lead would remain in double digits for the majority of the half. In fact, X stretched the lead to as high as 22 points on a 13-2 run that was capped by a Dante Jackson triple.
Besides Crawford's solid bounce-back offensive performance, he also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. Point guard Terrell Holloway added 12 points, dished six assists, and did not turn the ball over in 31 minutes of action. Jackson, Brad Redford, Kenny Frease also contributed seven points apiece to round out the leading scorers for the X-Men.
As a team, Xavier shot the ball much more proficiently against Creighton than it did on Thanksgiving Day against Marquette. The Musketeers shot 29-of-54 from the field for 53.7 percent including 9-of-18 from long range for 50 percent.
The Blue Jays were led by Ethan Wagge who scored 21 points and pulled down six boards in the losing effort.
After playing two straight days, XU can now rest its legs as there are no game scheduled on Saturday in the Old Spice Classic. Xavier returns to action for its third game of the tournament on Sunday afternoon, facing off against the winner of the Iona/Baylor game. Game time is set for Noon at the Milk House and again will be televised live on ESPNU.
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