PURDUE 71, XAVIER 57

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Lumpkin takes his lumps

Sunday, December 6, 1998

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kevin Frey is tied up by Purdue's Brian Cardinal. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

The game was over for more than a half hour. Gary Lumpkin sat near his locker, head buried in his hands.

Lenny Brown walked over to his long-time teammate. They were the only players left in the room.

'C'mon, G," he said. "I'm not going to give up on you."

Lumpkin, a four-year starter, may have had one of the worst games of his Xavier career Saturday night. It's no coincidence then that No. 14 Purdue left the Crown with a 71-57 victory over the 23rd-ranked Musketeers, who squandered an 11-point first-half lead.

The senior point guard had 11 turnovers, was 1-of-7 shooting from the field and missed all five of his three-point attempts. Leaning against a wall in the arena's hallways, Lumpkin took the blame for the loss.

"Disastrous. Terrible. Any bad word you can possibly think of," he said in describing his play. "Right now I'm the worst feeling person on this team. I just totally let this team down. I feel like I could just go crawl in a hole somewhere. I'm a senior leader and I didn't step up and make the plays I needed to make. This is embarrassing."

Purdue's Mike Robinson grabs a rebound between Lenny Brown and Lloyd Price. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

The Musketeers (5-3) had several scoring droughts, committed 26 turnovers -- 21 from seniors Lumpkin, Brown and James Posey -- and missed several opportunities afforded by their solid halfcourt defense.

Many of the turnovers were unforced, players slipping on the floor, losing their dribbles or simply throwing the ball right to Purdue (7-1).

Lumpkin couldn't remember the last time he had 11 turnovers in one game. Neither could Brown, playing alongside Lumpkin for the eighth season.

"He's probably more worried about how I'm feeling about him than some of the coaches," Brown said. "That's why I told him I'm not going to give up on him, I don't care what he does. I'll say that in front of anybody anywhere. We're going out together. Whether we both have 22 turnovers apiece, I still want him as my point guard. I know he's going to come out of it."

The game was closer than the final score indicates. The Purdue lead was only three points with 4:02 remaining.

But the Musketeers hit only two field goals the rest of the way, while Purdue held on by making 10-of-12 free throws in the final 1:45.

Xavier played some great halfcourt defense in the second half, four times out of five possessions forcing Purdue to either turn the ball over on a shot-clock violation or to take a desperation three-pointer that missed.

But the Musketeers could not capitalize. As good as they were on the defensive end, they were that bad on offense, missing shots and turning the ball over repeatedly.

Purdue broke a 41-41 tie with a 9-0 run to lead 50-41 with 8:15 to play. Xavier went 8:13 without a field goal and seven minutes without scoring before Brown hit a three-pointer to pull XU within six points.

"We weren't able to get a shot," coach Skip Prosser said. "It wasn't that we missed a lot of open shots. The stretches that killed us were the ones we didn't get a shot, good, bad or indifferent." Still, Xavier pulled within 56-53 on a Kevin

Frey three-pointer from the corner -- the first three of his career. But Purdue finished the game with a 15-4 run.

"The game was there to be taken, perhaps again," Prosser said. "They made plays. We didn't make the plays at that time. It's disheartening." Brown led XU with 16 points, and Frey had a career-high 13. The Boilermakers had four players scoring in double figures, led by Jaraan Cornell's 21.

Purdue's lead at the half was six points, a far cry from its 51-34 advantage in last year's showdown. But it might have been equally hard for XU to swallow.

The Musketeers led by as many as 11 in the first half. A layin by Frey, a layup through two Boilermakers by Price and a three-pointer by Brown put XU ahead 24-13 with 9:24 remaining.

Purdue then went to a matchup zone defense, and it hurt Xavier. "It seemed like that threw them out of rhythm," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "It's something we don't normally do, but it worked." The Boilermakers went on a 12-1 run to tie it. Xavier did not hit a field goal in the final 5:10 of the first half, was outscored 10-1 during that span and trailed by six at intermission.

"We're still not finishing the game out well," Brown said. "We're still playing in spurts."

Muskies caught in speed trap Paul Daugherty column
Notebook: Frey gives solid effort

PURDUE (71)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Robinson        34   4-9   6-7  5-12  1  3   14
Gr Mcquay       17   2-7   1-2   3-6  0  4    5
Cardinal        29   3-5   4-6   0-1  1  1   10
Eldridge        33   3-5   3-4   2-2  4  0   10
Cornell         36  6-12   5-6   0-2  3  3   21
Kerkhof          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Lewis            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Mayfield         8   0-2   0-0   0-0  3  3    0
Stephens        19   0-2   2-2   0-3  3  0    2
Smith            2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Davis            7   1-2   1-2   0-1  0  0    3
Cunningham       1   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  0    2
Allison          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Ga Mcquay       11   1-3   2-2   1-3  0  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-48 26-33 11-30 15 15   71
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.417, FT-.788. 3-Point Goals:
5-15, .333 (Robinson 0-1, Cardinal 0-1, Eldridge
1-2, Cornell 4-9, Mayfield 0-2). Team rebounds:
3. Blocked shots: 2 (Cardinal, Stephens).
Turnovers: 21 (Cardinal 4, Gr Mcquay 3, Robinson
3, Cornell 2, Eldridge 2, Ga Mcquay 2,
Cunningham, Mayfield, Smith, Stephens). Steals:
17 (Cardinal 4, Cornell 4, Eldridge 3, Mayfield
2, Robinson 2, Stephens 2).


XAVIER (57)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Price           35   3-5   1-2   2-4  1  4    7
Posey           33   3-7   2-3   1-5  4  5    8
Frey            33   6-9   0-0   1-5  0  2   13
L Brown         38  6-13   1-2   1-1  1  4   16
Lumpkin         33   1-7   4-6   0-4  5  3    6
Mcafee          10   1-5   0-0   0-1  2  2    3
A Brown          2   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Harris           5   0-1   1-2   2-2  0  1    1
Walker          11   1-1   1-1   0-0  0  2    3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-48 10-16  7-23 13 25   57
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.438, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
5-16, .313 (Posey 0-1, Frey 1-1, L Brown 3-7,
Lumpkin 0-5, Mcafee 1-2). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 7 (Price 4, Posey 2, Harris).
Turnovers: 26 (Lumpkin 11, L Brown 7, Price 4,
Posey 3, Mcafee). Steals: 10 (Posey 5, L Brown 2,
Lumpkin, Mcafee, Walker).
__________________________________
Purdue             35   36  -   71
Xavier             29   28  -   57
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Purdue 1 (Bench).  A: 14,263.
Officials: Jim Jenkins, Arnie Mcdonald, Bruce
Shapiro.

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