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X-Men Drill Flyers
1/24/2008
“D” for defense. That seemed to be the game plan for Sean Miller's Xavier Musketeers and it was executed to perfection. That perfection led to the Muskies 69-43 whipping of the No. 16 Dayton Flyers before a sold-out crowd at Cintas Center on Thursday night. XU, ranked No. 23 in the latest polls, ups its record to 16-4 and 4-1 in conference play, while Dayton falls to 14-3 and 2-2 in the A-10.
Brian Gregory’s group never quite hit their stride as they could only garner six first half field goals. X led at intermission by a hefty margin of 18 points and a score of 36 to 18. The Muskies had 12 field goals in 27 attempts. The scoring leaders were Derrick Brown with 9 points followed closely by Josh Duncan with 8 tallies. BJ Raymond chipped in 7 big ones. XU led the half time rebounding contest 20 -12 as CJ Anderson grabbed 6 boards.
While not making excuses for the Flyers, they did come into the contest severely hampered with two key injuries to their starting line up -- Charles Little and Chris Wright are out for 4 to 6 weeks with ankle injuries.
Knowing Dayton was shorthanded, Xavier focused on UD star senior Brian Roberts, who was held to 5 points. Roberts was defended brilliantly by Stanley Burrell, who finished with 13 points and walked away as MVP of the game. Burrell played havoc with the Flyer offense, by keeping Brian Roberts off balance all night long.
Seam Miller was quick to recognize Josh Duncan's play after the contest stating that he really likes the way Josh is playing at this time of the year. Adding it is what Josh does late in the year as he turns it on and becomes a complete player. Duncan ended up with 11 markers on 4-of-6 shooting from the field including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. In addition, B.J. Raymond was 4-of-8 from the field and finished with 12 points. X outmuscled the Dayton team on the boards by a 44-24 margin.
Drew Lavender received his second personal foul with 8:37 left in the first half and he did not see action until the second half. Dante Jackson filled in, scored six points, and did a fine floor general job finishing out the last 8 and ˝ minutes. During that period without Drew, X outscored Dayton 10-4.
The Flyers know there will be another day against XU. It comes on February 24th at Dayton. Dayton may be healthier by then, so it may be a better contest. But Xavier won’t forget the “D”, which is a big part of what they do.
The A-10 challenge continues this weekend for Xavier. The Muskies travel to Amherst for a Sunday contest against UMass. It will be a tough matchup - let's hope the Musketeers pack their “D”. Game time is set for Noon.
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