Wednesday, December 22, 1999

Xavier 92, St. Mary's 48

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Freshman West outplays 'Big Continent'

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jeff West ties up 7-3 Brad Millard as he tries to shoot. (Craig Ruttle photos) | ZOOM |

        Nine NBA scouts were on hand Tuesday night, in part, to see St. Mary's College 7-foot-3 center Brad Millard. What they got instead was an eyeful of David West.

        The Xavier freshman stole the show from his more heralded senior counterpart in the Musketeers' 92-48 victory before 8,836 fans at the Cincinnati Gardens.

        Coming off its stunning upset of top-ranked Cincinnati three nights earlier, XU (7-2) had no problems with the Gaels (4-5) from the West Coast Conference.

        West, giving up 7 inches and more than 100 pounds, went right at Millard — all 345 pounds of him — and rendered him ineffective for the 13 minutes he played. Millard limped off the court with 4:13 left in the first half after hyper-extending his right knee.

Darnell Williams | ZOOM |

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        He did not return. Millard watched the second half on the bench and finished 0-of-4 from the field with one point, one rebound and two turnovers.

        “I never really got to assert myself,” Millard said. “Things just weren't going right. I wasn't able to get the ball fed to me the way I wanted it.

        “I thought (West) played well, for being a freshman especially. He asserted himself early and throughout the whole game. From what I saw, I was very impressed.”

        West did a good job on defense of denying passes inside to Millard. St. Mary's turned it over at least four times trying to get the ball to their bulky center. West knocked one away and stole another outright.

        “He's not playing like a freshman, and we need him to continue doing that,” XU sophomore Lloyd Price said.

Brandon McIntosh | ZOOM |

        On offense, West outworked Millard to rebounds and beat him to the basket regularly. He took one layup right at Millard, then after a Gaels turnover, went in for a reverse layup around him.

        West, who had averaged just 4.7 points and 7.3 points over the previous three games, had 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals in the first half. He finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists in only 26 minutes.

        “I think he really takes a challenge. He doesn't come on with any false bravado,” XU coach Skip Prosser said. “He's very introspective. He thinks about things. He wants to be good, and he's obviously playing well for us.

        “It's essential that he's doing what he's doing. I think he's exceeded everybody's expectations, including mine.”

Big Continent towers over Maurice McAfee | ZOOM |

        In his first nine college games, West has battled Dion Edward of Louisville, Eric Chenowith of Kansas, Kenyon Martin of Cincinnati and now “Big Continent.”

        “My disadvantage was his size, so I had to turn my disadvantage to my advantage and use my quickness,” West said. “He's so big and stationary, there was no way I was going to be able to overpower him.

        “The same way you play against Maryland-Eastern Shore, you play against Cincinnati. What I did tonight, I try to do that against everybody.”

        Prosser had warned his team against a letdown after the victory over the Bearcats.

        Not a problem.

        Xavier turned the ball over eight times in the first 10 minutes against St. Mary's, yet still led 19-11. XU had just one turnover the rest of the half.

        The Gaels were within four points, then XU turned it into a rout with 16 unanswered points. During that stretch, St. Mary's turned the ball over on six consecutive possessions.

        It was 45-22 at halftime.

        Sophomore Kevin Frey added 14 points, Darnell Williams 13 and Alvin Brown 12 for Xavier.

        The lopsided score allowed Prosser to play junior center Reggie Butler and Brandon McIntosh double-digit minutes. McIntosh scored a career-high eight points, and Butler had five rebounds — one shy of his career high.

        “This was an important win because we wanted to make sure that after we beat UC we built on it,” West said.

Frey playing well in starting role

ST MARYS CA (48)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Dahle           31   1-3   0-0   2-6  2  4    3
Harris          27  5-11   1-4   0-2  2  1   11
Millard         13   0-4   1-2   0-1  0  2    1
Allocco         29   0-9   1-2   1-4  4  2    1
King            27   2-4   0-0   0-2  0  0    5
Benson          20   3-6   1-2   1-3  0  5    7
Greer           20   4-8   2-2   0-2  1  5   11
Gordon          12   1-2   0-0   1-2  2  1    2
Herr             7   1-3   0-0   1-1  2  1    2
Jones            5   0-0   1-2   0-0  1  1    1
Bond             9   2-2   0-0   0-0  0  2    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 19-52  7-14  6-23 14 24   48
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.365, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
3-18, .167 (Dahle 1-1, Harris 0-3, Allocco 0-8,
King 1-2, Greer 1-3, Herr 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 3 (Dahle, Millard, Bond).
Turnovers: 32 (Harris 6, Dahle 5, Benson 4, King
4, Allocco 3, Bond 2, Greer 2, Millard 2, Gordon,
Jones). Steals: 15 (Dahle 3, Greer 3, King 3,
Harris 2, Allocco, Bond, Herr, Jones).

XAVIER (92)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Frey            27   4-8   5-6   1-5  2  2   14
Price           30   3-7   2-2   1-3  4  3    8
West            26  7-12   4-4   5-9  4  1   18
Mcafee          21   1-5   4-4   0-0  4  2    7
Williams        27   5-7   1-2   1-2  3  0   13
Mcintosh        12   3-5   2-4   3-3  0  1    8
Johnson          2   0-0   0-2   0-0  0  0    0
Brown           21   5-7   0-1   0-2  2  1   12
Harris           9   1-1   2-2   0-2  0  1    4
Mason            4   1-1   0-0   0-2  0  1    2
Baronas          2   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Caldwell         2   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Ballinger        5   0-1   2-2   0-0  1  0    2
Butler          12   0-1   2-2   0-5  2  3    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 31-57 24-31 11-33 23 16   92
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.544, FT-.774. 3-Point Goals:
6-15, .400 (Frey 1-1, Price 0-3, Mcafee 1-5,
Williams 2-4, Brown 2-2). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 1 (Price). Turnovers: 20 (Mcafee
4, Butler 3, Brown 2, Frey 2, Mcintosh 2, West 2,
Ballinger, Harris, Mason, Price, Williams).
Steals: 16 (West 6, Mcafee 3, Frey 2, Price 2,
Williams 2, Brown).
__________________________________
St Marys Ca        22   26  -   48
Xavier             45   47  -   92
__________________________________
Technical fouls: St Marys Ca 1 (Bench).  A:
8,836. Officials: Jim Jenkins, John Larocca, Jack
Sweeney.

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