Dec. 28, 2007

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CINCINNATI - Sophomore forward/center Jason Love posted a career-high 10 points and tied his career high in rebounds with nine in the Philadelphia native's first career start as Xavier cruised to a 65-33 win over Delaware State Friday night at Cintas Center. Sophomore forward Derrick Brown led all scorers with 13 points as he went a perfect 3-for-3 from the line on the night. With the win, XU improves to 9-3 on the season while DSU falls to 3-8 overall.

"Jason Love has become at least [as valuable as Brandon Cole] and because he's younger and longer I think he can surpass that," commented head coach Sean Miller following the game. "He's an incredibly hard worker. He shoots almost 200 free throws a day."

Two other Musketeers notched double figures as junior guard/forward C.J. Anderson tallied 12 points and senior guard Drew Lavender added 11. Senior guard Stanley Burrell led the team with four assists while sophomore guard Adrion Graves brought down a career-high five rebounds.

The duo of Brown and junior forward B.J. Raymond held the Hornets' leading scorer Roy Bright to just two points on 1-for-13 shooting. The 33 points scored by Delaware State was the lowest scoring output by a Xavier opponent in the "shot clock era" (1985-86-present). The previous low during this time frame was 35 by Eastern Illinois (11-19-05).

"The storyline for us tonight is holding a team to 33 points," said Miller. "That will be a source of pride for this team. Bright came into tonight's game averaging almost 20 points a game. I thought Derrick took it as a personal challenge to defend him hard."

Xavier opened the second half with a 20-8 run as the Musketeers expanded their 23-point halftime lead to their game-high lead of 35 points when Brown scored a fast break layup with 7:59 left in the contest.

Leading 13-8 with 12:25 remaining in the first half, Xavier went on a 22-3 run to take a 35-11 just under the three-minute mark. Lavender hit three 3-point shots for nine points to pace the effort while Anderson added six during the spurt.

Up next for Xavier will be a neutral-site New Year's Eve match-up with Kansas State on Monday, December 31. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at US Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati. XU leads the all-time series with KSU, 3-2, including a 76-66 victory last season (1-3-07) at US Bank Arena.