Thursday, February 03, 2000

Xavier 65, Dayton 64

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Muskies keep streak alive in OT

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Lloyd Price has the ball knocked away by Edwin Young. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        Dayton has lost 15 straight games at the Cincinnati Gardens. It won't forget Wednesday night's defeat any time soon.

        Xavier blew a 13-point lead in the final 6:06 of regulation, then rallied to win 65-64 in an overtime thriller before a sellout crowd of 10,100.

        Tony Stanley scored on a short baseline jumper to put Dayton ahead 64-63 with 39 seconds left in the extra period.

        Two timeouts later, XU had the ball out of bounds on its own baseline. Maurice McAfee passed it to senior Darnell Williams, who drove the baseline, pumped and layed it in off the glass with 7.4 seconds remaining. Williams had been 1-of-9 from the field to that point.

Young reacts after missing the final shot. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Then the Musketeers survived two shot attempts by Dayton guard Edwin Young. The first was a clean block out of bounds by freshman David West. “He was running with his head down,” West said. “He didn't see me at all. As long as he didn't see me, I had a chance of getting to it.”

        The Flyers had one more chance with 1.3 seconds on the clock. They called time. XU called time.

        Young cut to the basket. Ted Fitz inbounded it to him, but he never got up a shot against West and Aaron Turner.

        So, what happened?

        West: “I got a piece of it. But Aaron really hit it away.”

        Turner: “I just smacked it. I saw him cut, and I was trying to step in and help. I didn't touch him. That was all ball.”

        Young: “I felt some contact. That was the ref's decision to make the call. It could've gone either way.”

Darnell Williams (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        Dayton coach Oliver Purnell: “I thought Edwin got bumped on his shot, but there were a lot of bumps in the game.”

        XU's Skip Prosser: “My vantage point is not the best, about 70 feet from the play. I don't know. He either got fouled or he didn't.”

        Got all that?

        The Musketeers celebrated. Some Xavier students rushed the court.

        The Flyers have not won at the Gardens since 1973 and may never get a chance to do so again with XU moving into the Cintas Center next season.

        The home team has won 11 straight in the series. Xavier has won 26 of its last 27 games at the Gardens. XU improved to 13-7, 4-4 in the A-10 and pulled within two games of the Flyers in the West Division.

        Dayton saw a four-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 16-4, 6-2.

Maurice McAfee (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        The Musketeers got a big boost off the bench from sophomore Alvin Brown. The reserve guard scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting and was named MVP of the game.

        McAfee led XU with 16 points, six assists and a career-high eight rebounds. Price added 11 points and West 10. The Musketeers survived a combined 3-of-18 shooting performance by starters Kevin Frey and Williams.

        Xavier finished 0-of-15 from 3-point range, its first game without a 3 in 198 games — since Dec. 6, 1993 (it was 0-of-5 in a 65-56 victory over Hartford). The team shot just 36.9 percent from the field.

        “It's a big win,” Brown said. “It's a confidence builder.”

        Dayton led 29-24 two minutes into the second half. Then XU responded with eight unanswered points during a 20-3 run. The Flyers hit only three of their first 17 shots of the second half.

Lloyd Price (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        When Brown scored on a layup in transition with 6:06 remaining, it gave Xavier a 50-37 lead.

        But XU did not make a field goal in the final 3:39 of regulation. The Musketeers were ahead 56-51 with 1:03 to play. Then freshman Brooks Hall hit a wide-open 3-pointer for the Flyers with 51 seconds left.

        After a Dayton timeout, Xavier ran down the shot clock. Price lofted up an airball with about 17 seconds to go. The Flyers came down, and with time running out, Young lost the ball in a crowd, grabbed it and scored on a short bank shot with .01 on the clock.

        Overtime.

        “We were feeling down, but we had to win,” Williams said. “We had to.”

Darnell Williams (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “Of course we felt good,” Dayton's Young said. “At that point in time, we thought we had the game won.”

        Dayton closed the first half with a 9-2 run and went into the locker room with a 26-22 advantage.

        XU guards McAfee and Williams were a combined 3-of-13 from the field and the Musketeers shot just 29.6 percent in the first 20 minutes.

        “We still found a way to win,” Prosser said. “Believe me, we needed it. To our kids' credit, we persevered. It beats the heck out of the alternative.”

Brown's shooting practice pays off

DAYTON (64)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Holland         31   3-8   0-1   6-9  2  1    6
Hall            40  4-12   4-4   1-4  0  4   14
M Ashman        37  4-13   4-4   5-7  2  3   12
Stanley         33  6-11   1-2  1-10  4  2   14
Young           29   2-5   0-0   0-0  1  2    4
Green           11   1-4   1-2   2-4  1  4    3
Fitz             7   0-0   0-0   0-0  2  1    0
Morris          32  3-10   4-6   1-1  2  4   11
Cooper           5   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         225 23-63 14-19 16-36 14 21   64
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.365, FT-.737. 3-Point Goals:
4-19, .211 (Hall 2-10, Stanley 1-3, Young 0-2,
Morris 1-4). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 1
(Hall). Turnovers: 19 (Holland 5, Morris 4,
Stanley 3, Fitz 2, Green 2, Young 2, M Ashman).
Steals: 7 (Hall 2, Young 2, Fitz, Holland,
Stanley).

XAVIER (65)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Frey            31   1-8   1-2   2-3  1  4    3
Price           37  3-11   5-5   3-6  0  4   11
West            32   4-7   2-4   6-8  2  4   10
Mcafee          42  5-15   6-8   2-8  6  3   16
Williams        39  2-10   2-2   2-5  3  4    6
Brown           18  7-12   1-2   0-2  0  2   15
Turner          22   2-2   0-1   3-5  0  2    4
Butler           4   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         225 24-65 17-24 18-38 12 23   65
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.369, FT-.708. 3-Point Goals:
0-15, .000 (Frey 0-2, Price 0-2, Mcafee 0-4,
Williams 0-5, Brown 0-2). Team rebounds: 8.
Blocked shots: 3 (Frey, West, Williams).
Turnovers: 19 (Frey 5, Price 5, Turner 5, Mcafee
3, Brown). Steals: 4 (West 2, Brown, Williams).
_______________________________________
Dayton             26   30    8  -   64
Xavier             22   34    9  -   65
_______________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 10,100. Officials:
Jody Silvester, Joe Mingle, Fran Connolly.

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