Friday, March 10, 2000

XU's last shot at NCAA falls short

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Muskies lose to St. Bonaventure 72-69

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Darnell Williams holds his injured right shoulder in the closing minutes. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        PHILADELPHIA — What a bittersweet night for Xavier point guard Maurice McAfee.

        The 6-foot junior scored a career-high 27 points Thursday night. He tied Jamie Gladden's school record with seven 3-point field goals.

        He also missed the final shot, a deep, desperation 3-point attempt too hard off the glass in the final seconds.

        That left St. Bonaventure with a 72-69 victory over the Musketeers in a crucial Bell Atlantic Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinal — its second victory over XU in nine days.

        McAfee finished 10-of-17 from the field and 7-of-11 from 3-point range.

Kevin Frey fouls. | ZOOM |

        “It wasn't good enough; we still lost,” he said afterward. “We wanted to win, and we didn't get it done.”

        On his last field goal attempt: “It felt good when it left my hand. I pulled up a little too deep. I should've let a little more time go off the clock and get a better shot. That was a bad shot.”

        But it was only because of McAfee that Xavier was in the game at the end.

        “Moe wanted it,” said sophomore Lloyd Price (seven points, four rebounds). “People didn't help him, like me.”

        Quite simply, a shot at an NCAA Tournament berth was at stake.

        And during one 6¹/₂-minute stretch in the second half, Xavier lost its opportunity to make the 64-team field.

Darnell Williams on defense. | ZOOM |

        It's now, in all likelihood, NIT time for the Musketeers (20-11).

        Even coach Skip Prosser is pretty much resigned to that, calling XU's NCAA chances “unlikely.”

        “I think realistically we should prepare for (the NIT),” he said.

        Xavier led by as many as 11 points early in the second half, only to be outscored 26-6 immediately after that.

        The Bonnies (20-8) face Dayton tonight (9p.m. approximate starting time, Fox Sports Net Ohio) in the tourney semifinals. The Flyers (22-7) defeated St.Joseph's 67-64 earlier Thursday night. Dayton beat the Bonnies 68-64 on Feb.12 at UD Arena.

        “There's no question in my mind that game gets us into the NCAA,” SBU coach Jim Baron said. “We played aggressive. We played to win the game.”

David West double-teamed. | ZOOM |

        David West finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. For the year, he set a Xavier freshman record with 283 rebounds. He passed Brian Grant (273, 1990-91).

        Senior Darnell Williams scored 11 for his 10th straight game in double figures and suffered a mild sprain of his right knee with 3:44 left.

        “I tried to slide over (defensively),” he said. “I felt like it got stuck under me. I felt something click in my knee.”

        Xavier opened up a 46-35 lead in the first five minutes of the second half, thanks to a 3-pointer by Williams and two 3s by McAfee.

        But the Musketeers didn't even get off another shot for more than three minutes.

        They turned over the ball five consecutive times, and everyone was in on the act. Price. McAfee. Williams twice. Alvin Brown.

        “Momentum changes,” McAfee said.

        “We lose our concentration sometimes,” Prosser said. “It's a recurring problem. When we get a little cushion, we relax on the defensive end. Except for that stretch, I thought we played very well.”

        St.Bonaventure rattled off nine unanswered points to start its decisive spurt from which Xavier could not fully recover.

        Patricio Prato drove to the basket for a layup that gave the Bonnies their first lead of the second half at 50-48. After Caswell Cyrus blocked a Kevin Frey shot inside, Tim Winn nailed a 3-pointer to give SBU a five-point lead with 9:53 to play.

        It didn't stop there. By the time Peter Van Paassen made two free throws at the 8:28 mark, St.ÐBonaventure had a 61-52 lead.

        The Musketeers battled back to within 63-62 on a McAfee 3 with 4:46 remaining. SBU turned over the ball four times in a row.

        XU couldn't get closer than two points after that.

        SBU had five players in double figures.

        Xavier was ahead 35-31 after 20 minutes. The first half was tightly contested. There were five ties and nine lead changes.

        Winn, St.Bonaventure's point guard and leading scorer (13.8 ppg), went 0-of-3 from the field in the first half and had zero points and two assists. He finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

        Despite Xavier's victory over Rhode Island on Wednesday night, it dropped to 75 from 67 in Thursday's Ratings Percentage Index. SBU was at No.47.

        XU came out to warm up for the game wearing its grey home uniforms but was sent to the locker room to change into blue because it was the visiting team.

One bad shot ruins XU's good night
XU women savor Atlantic 10 title

XAVIER (69)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Price           38  3-11   0-0   0-4  5  2    7
Turner          25   0-2   1-2   3-4  1  3    1
West            37   6-9   7-7  6-12  2  4   19
Mcafee          36 10-17   0-0   1-2  1  4   27
Williams        38  3-10   2-2   0-2  2  2   11
Frey            18   2-8   0-2   1-4  0  2    4
Brown            8   0-2   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-59 10-13 11-28 12 18   69
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.407, FT-.769. 3-Point Goals:
11-25, .440 (Price 1-2, Mcafee 7-11, Williams
3-10, Frey 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
None. Turnovers: 17 (Mcafee 5, Price 3, Brown 2,
West 2, Williams 2, Frey, Turner). Steals: 4
(Frey, Turner, West, Williams).

ST BONAVENTURE (72)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Prato           18   3-4   4-6   0-2  2  4   10
Van Paassen     28   4-6   2-2   2-6  1  4   10
Cyrus           37  7-11   1-6   5-8  1  3   15
D Messiah Cape  36  7-15   0-0   2-3  4  1   16
Winn            40  3-10   3-3   0-4  4  1   10
V Massiah        8   1-1   0-1   0-3  0  4    2
Cheeks           7   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Bremer          26   3-8   0-0   2-3  2  3    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 29-56 10-18 11-29 14 20   72
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Percentages: FG-.518, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals:
4-13, .308 (D Messiah Capers 2-5, Winn 1-5,
Bremer 1-3). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6
(Cyrus 5, Van Paassen). Turnovers: 14 (Cyrus 4, D
Messiah Capers 3, Winn 3, Bremer 2, Prato).
Steals: 9 (Bremer 4, Winn 3, Cyrus 2).
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Xavier             35   34  -   69
St Bonaventure     31   41  -   72
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,779. Officials:
Larry Lembo, Jack Sweeney, Rich Sanfillipo.

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