BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

XU's Gary Lumpkin exults at the buzzer while UC's Charles Williams anguishes on the floor (AP) | ZOOM |

Here's the trouble with being ranked No.1 in the country in November, and playing someone other than Pan American before all the parts fit: Suddenly, the shakedown cruise turns into a wreck on the rocks. It's like taking calculus to get better at algebra.

It's even worse when that someone you're playing is Xavier, and you are Cincinnati.

Here is what we learned Tuesday night. Here is the first lesson from Crosstown Shootout 101: This game needs to be played later in the schedule, so as to give it the respect it deserves. At any level, college basketball in November is Claudia Schiffer in overalls. You know?

(The trash-talking was in midseason stride, however, especially from the UC students, who seemed to think it appropriate to spray the F-word in unison, as if it were a Hallmark greeting. Hey, kiddies: Get a life. In it, locate a vocabulary.)

Here's another lesson:

Xavier is better than advertised. The Bearcats, for now, aren't.

The Musketeers won 71-69 on a Lenny Brown jump shot at the buzzer, after UC's Charles Williams lost his dribble out of bounds at halfcourt. The Muskies won also because they were the more poised team at the end, which seems a strange thing to say about a group starting three sophomores and a junior college transfer.

Stranger, still, to say about a UC team with veterans everywhere you look.

The Muskies won because, at the end, they were better than Danny Fortson. The Bearcats tried all night to ride their all-American's shoulders. They are good shoulders, a real pair of Schwarzeneggers. But they cannot carry an entire team for a whole game.

Mostly, the Musketeers won because, at the moment, they are the better team. They absolutely did not deserve to lose, and this is an amazing thing to say when you are talking about No. 1 doing the losing. More than anything, this is what the madness showed us last night.

Lenny Brown had an open shot to win it. He took the inbounds pass from Gary Lumpkin near half court, drove to the lane, pulled up without a UC hand in his face and let it float. It was easy, if the biggest shot of your 21-year-old life could be called that.

UC coach Bob Huggins was amazed at Brown's freedom. ''How in the world can you stand there and let the other guy make a shot to win the game?'' he asked.

''The play we called was called Army,'' Brown said later, a fitting name for this game. It was meant to go inside. If not, Brown was the man. ''Lenny is the one guy we have who is able to create his shot,'' said Xavier coach Skip Prosser.

''Coach told me just to go,'' Brown said.

Brown went. And went, until he found himself in the lane, the clock a heartbeat from expiring. All Brown wanted was a foul. When he got the shot off without bother, ''I tried to put some arc on it, hope it would take a couple bounces and I would get lucky.''

No luck needed. The ball fell through cleanly. Paul Brown once said the best sound a team could hear in its opponent's home was silence. It wasn't quite quiet at Shoemaker Center. Amid the groans, the 150 Xavier fans allotted tickets made some noise.

Almost as good as his winning shot was the job Brown and his quick backcourt partners did on UC's guards, especially Darnell Burton. Here's something you won't see the rest of this year: Burton playing 13 minutes of a half and taking just one shot.

Brown explained the defensive strategy: ''I watched a lot of film. He's a quick shooter. I tried to be there when he caught the ball.''

It wasn't just Burton. Combined, the Bearcats top three guards - Burton, Williams and Damon Flint - attempted six shots in the first half. Flint had their only field goal.

It took the Bearcats 16 minutes before anyone but Fortson or Ruben Patterson had a basket. The pattern repeated itself in the last three minutes of the game, when Fortson was every bit the All-
American.

He made a 10-footer in T.J. Johnson's face with 2:20 left, giving UC a 66-63 lead. Then he rebounded Johnson's miss at the other end, and was fouled. Fortson made one of two. Thirty seconds later, he fouled out Xavier forward Torraye Braggs and made another free throw. UC, 68-63.

The rest of the way was a blue and white blur. James Posey scored for Xavier with 6.7 seconds to go, tying the game at 69. After a timeout, Williams took the inbounds pass and, in haste, lost the dribble. The rest was Brown.

If you peer into the soul of this rivalry, this is what you'll always find: A man open, committing heroism.

''Biggest shot ever,'' Brown said. ''No question.''

Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments. Call him at 768-8454.

SHOOTOUT PAGE
GAME IN PICTURES
GAME STORY
XAVIER: 'WE REFUSE TO LOSE'
NOTEBOOK
BEARCATS PAGE
MUSKETEERS PAGE
Published Nov. 27, 1996.