Thursday, January 13, 2000
XU's West has concussion
BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When freshman center David West got to Xavier's bench with 3:23 remaining Tuesday night, he didn't know whom the Musketeers were playing.
“He couldn't walk. He was dazed big time,” trainer David Fluker said. “Even back in the locker room he was out of it. He didn't start coming around until we got him to the hospital and got him settled down. He got a pretty good wallop.”
West suffered a mild concussion late in Xavier's 76-72 loss at Dayton, left UD Arena on a stretcher and spent the night in nearby Miami Valley Hospital.
Fluker said West will be checked out today by team physician Dr. Henry Stiene and should be cleared to practice. XU was off Wednesday.
West was injured when he was elbowed in the head by Dayton's Mark Ashman in a scramble for a rebound. West was bleeding from his nose and had to be helped to the bench and to the locker room.
Xavier trailed 68-65 at the time. It would take the lead after a jumper by Kevin Frey and a layup by Turner, but then it mustered only one basket in the final 2:21.
The Musketeers could have used West, who has become one of their best offensive options. He came in having made 16-of-22 field goal attempts in Atlantic 10 play but struggled in the first half with 1-of-5 shooting.
West, whom coach Skip Prosser calls “our most consistent player,” scored six of his eight points and was 3-of-4 from the field in the second half and also finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.
“Last year we were all perimeter in crunch time,” Prosser said.“It was a 3 or nothing. This year, we've gotten better (at going inside), and we need to continue to get better. That's really the way it should be but not the way it has been.”
After Dayton regained the lead 70-69 with 1:47 remaining, XU's next three possessions went like this:
• Forced running jumper in the paint by Lloyd Price;
• Quick 3-point attempt by Maurice McAfee without any attempt to run some offense;
• Turnover by senior Dar nell Williams.
Xavier has lost three of its last five road games (Dayton, Marquette and Miami) and lost for the fifth straight time at Dayton.
“Once we went down (67-58), we could've easily packed it in and folded, but we came back and ran some good things and got some open looks and finished inside and made some stops at the other end,” Prosser said.
“But again, to get that quote-unquote quality road win, we have to execute our way to a win in those situations, and we didn't do that. We just have to get better at those end-game situations.”
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