March 13, 2008

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Atlantic 10 Sixth Player of the Year Josh Duncan led five Musketeers in double-figures with 16 points as the Xavier University men's basketball team defeated Dayton by a 74-65 score in A-10 Championship Quarterfinal action on Thursday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.  With the win, the Musketeers improve to 27-5 while the Flyers slip to 21-10.

 

With the win, top-seeded Xavier advances to the semifinal round of the A-10 Championship and will face No. 5 Saint Joseph's on Friday, March 4.  Game time is set for 6:30 p.m.  Xavier has now won six consecutive games vs. Dayton and the team improves to 21-8 all-time in the Atlantic 10 Championship.

 

Duncan's 16 came on 5-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from deep.  Sophomore forward Derrick Brown was outstanding, scoring 11 points and hauling in a game-high nine rebounds. 

 

A-10 Defensive Player of the Year Stanley Burrell added 13 points and was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.  Junior forward C.J. Anderson scored 15 points and was a nearly automatic 7-for-8 from the free throw line. 

 

All-League second team honoree Drew Lavender scored 12 points and dished-out five assists for the Musketeers.  XU is now 18-0 this season when four or more Musketeers score in double-figures.     

 

Xavier built a 35-29 halftime lead but it was quickly erased by a hot-shooting Flyers attack.  Back-to-back buckets by Jimmy Binnie made a 3-pointer and Brian Roberts followed with a jumper on the ensuing possession to give UD a 43-41 lead at the 14-minute mark.

 

Duncan knotted the score up at 44-all just a minute later but Andres Sandoval converted on a lay up 10-seconds later to give UD its final lead of the game. 

 

However, C.J. Anderson made a pair of free throws at the 12:20 mark to tie the score at 46 and spark a game-changing 8-0 run over the next two-minutes.  Duncan scored five points during the decisive spurt. 

 

UD would cut the lead to six and had several chances to whittle the lead down even further but the Musketeers held the Flyers without a field goal for a 6:40 stretch to ensure the victory.   

 

XU continued its trend of dominating the glass as the Musketeers out-rebounded the Flyers by a 34-to-24 count.  Xavier shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the floor and the team was a solid 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from deep.    

 

Dayton jumped out of the gate and led 10-4 at the 16-minute mark after Binnie made a 3-pointer. 

 

XU would wake up though and stormed out to a 21-7 run over the next 7:20 and seized a commanding 25-17 lead at the 8:40 mark after Derrick Brown electrified the crowd with a fast break dunk. 

 

The status quo held for much of the remainder of the first half but the Flyers scored the last six points of the first stanza and headed into the locker room down 35-29.