|
Muskies Rout Rhody!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/21/2013
It might have been ugly and it took Xavier awhile to get cranking,but the Muskies wound up dusting Rhode Island convincingly(55-42) on the road Wednesday nite. It was a "must" win for the Muskies(now 15-10 overall,8-4 in the Atlantic 10). XU sits 5th in the league-a half game behind LaSalle(8-3). The Explorers have won 4 in a row. They play at Temple(6-5 A-10) Thursday nite at 7(CBS Sports Network).
A LaSalle loss elevates Xavier into a tie for 4th with the Explorers. That 4th spot is golden. It means a first round bye in the A-10 Tournament in Brooklyn and an automatic pass to the Quarterfinals. X wins ties with LaSalle because the Muskies beat them head to head.
The first half in Kingston was not a work of art. URI led 23-22 thanks to 12 points from their serial shooter Xavier Munford,crummy luck around the rim for Travis Taylor and Semaj Christon and 8 mainly unforced turnovers by the X-men. It was pretty obvious that XU had a huge edge inside,but the finish was lacking. Hustle plays from Dee Davis and Eric Stenger and Justin Martin were the bright spots.
Second half-different story-XU quickly took over by attacking the rim. Taylor and Christon combined to drill 6 straight FTs-usually a sign of lazer-like focus. And the defense was smothering. The Muskies went on a stifling 10-0 run spanning about 6 minutes pwoering them to a 42-33 lead with 9:12 remaining.
URI shot bricks(0-11 FG). Their possessions were basically one bad jump shot and done. Travis Taylor shook off oral surgery and just controlled the defensive board. Dee Davis played his best half ever. He slowed Munford to a crawl defensively fighting thru a ton of ball screens and he pushed the ball offensively finding his shooters. He set-up Brad Redford repeatedly with a nifty dribble-hand-off play where he tossed it back to Brad and then screened for him.
Christon scored 16 and more importantly made 8 of 8 FTs. X actually extended their lead when Semaj went to the bench with 4 fouls and over 7 minutes to play. Taylor had huge numbers(17 rebounds). Martin did a blanket defensive job on Nika Milasevic URI's 3 point specialist. He had played well in their back to back wins over Dayton and Duquesne.
As Pete Gillen has always said so sagely:"Any road win in the league is a great win especially in February." URI certainly qualifies. Limiting the Rams to 19 points after halftime is impressive. They shot 24%FG. And this is the same Rhody team that beat St Louis 82-80 on the road and took out Dayton 75-72.
There's a huge A-10 game Friday nite. St. Louis(9-2) is at Butler(9-3)-head-to-head for the A-10 lead(7PM-ESPNU).
XU hosts VCU(9-3) Saturday afternoon at Cintas(2PM-CBS Sports Network). We'll have more on Team Havoc Friday.
|
|
