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X Loses to Butler in Bizarre Finish
By
Jay Skeldon,
12/19/2009
 | An angry Coach Chris Mack disagrees with the officials’ decision to remove time from the clock and end the game.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Kenny Frease and Dante’ Jackson attempt to corral a loose ball at the end of the game.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Kenny Frease goes above the Butler defense and dunks in two points.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Jordan Crawford drives by the defense on his way to getting two points.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | Sophomore Jordan Crawford winds his way around the defense for two of his team high 20 points.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | A dejected Terrell Holloway sits alone on the bench after a heart-breaking loss.
[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
Time was not on the Musketeers' side on Saturday afternoon. Xavier lost to the clock in a crushing 69-68 defeat to No. 17 Butler before 9,114 fans at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. After a frenetic scramble for the loose ball with just seconds left on the game clock, Butler's Gordon Hayward grabbed the ball and laid it in with 1.2 seconds remaining to push Butler ahead by one for the final margin.
A video review followed and the officials bizarrely concluded that the game clock should have expired giving Butler the victory. Jordan Crawford led Xavier with a team-high 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting in the losing effort for Xavier, which drops to 6-4. Butler, meanwhile, improves its record to 8-3.
The Musketeers got off to a slow start in the first half as they found themselves down early. Butler ran off a 20-6 streak to open the game as the Bulldogs were red hot from the field.
Xavier dug itself into a hole as large as 15 points, trailing 32-17 with 6:43 remaining. The team came alive at the end of the half, rattling off a 12-5 run to finish out the first period down just seven, 39-32.
In the the first five minutes of the second half, Xavier continued the momentum that it had picked up going into intermission. The X-Men fired off an impressive 11-0 run to start the half with seven points coming from Crawford and four points by Jason Love. The run was capped by a Crawford lay-up to move X into the lead, 43-39.
Xavier held onto the lead for the next 15 minutes of play save three times that Butler tied the game. Then with 2:30 left, Butler center Matt Howard dropped in a lay-up to push the Bulldogs back into the lead, 64-62.
Then Crawford knocked in a jumper to tie it only to have Shelvin Mack hit the back end of free throws. X then went up by one point, which is the margin that the Muskies held during the final posession of the game.
After Hayward's basket with 1.2 seconds left, Xavier called a time out. During the timeout, while the teams prepared for a final Xavier possession, the officials reviewed the video of the game clock.
After meeting and debating for over 10 minutes, the officials concluded that the clock had been stopped inadvertently during the middle of the previous possession for 1.3 seconds.
Thus, the shot released by Hayward with 1.8 seconds was the final shot of the game before the clock would have expired had the clock not been stopped earlier in the possession.
Xavier's players and coaches clearly were not pleased with the decision by the officials -- D.J. Carstensen, Sid Rodeheffer, and Bo Borowski. The astonishing call by the officials prevented the Musketeers from having one final chance to score, leaving the team with a bitter taste at the game's end.
Unbelievably, Saturday's game was the second straight year in which Borowski officiated the Xavier-Butler game. Last season Xavier fell to Butler 74-65 at Cintas Center in a less than spectacular showing by the referees that ended with former XU head coach Sean Miller irate at Borowski.
Besides Crawford's double-digit scoring effort, Jason Love added 14 points on 7-of-9 from the field to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Love came up big in the second half as 12 of his 14 points came after the break.
Fellow XU big man Kenny Frease played one of his best games to date as a Musketeer as he recorded 12 points and reeled in four boards off the glass.
Butler was led by Hayward who hit Xavier up for a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds. Shelvin Mack (14 points), Willie Veasley (13 points), and Matt Howard (12 points) rounded out the scoring for BU.
Prior to Christmas, Xavier has one final contest on Wednesday night. It plays host to Miami(OH) at Cintas Center on December 23. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.
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