Thursday, March 16, 2000

Xavier 67, Marquette 63

2nd-half surge gives Muskies NIT victory

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

[img]
Aaron Turner slams into Marquette's Brian Wardle.
(Michael E. Keating photos)
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        The odds were against Xavier winning Wednesday night.

        Senior Darnell Williams was just 1-of-13 from the field. The team missed 10 free throws. Sophomore Lloyd Price was benched for the game while his replacement in the starting lineup, Alvin Brown, went 1-of-6 from the field.

        Oh, and the Musketeers trailed by 10 early in the second half.

        All that and they still showed enough resolve to rally for a 67-63 victory over Marquette in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. XU has won 31 of its past 32 games at the Cincinnati Gardens.

        “Most of the time we scrap,” XU coach Skip Prosser said. “And tonight we really scrapped. We showed tremendous fortitude. I was really proud of their effort.”

        Xavier (21-11) will play at Notre Dame (19-14) at 7 p.m. Monday night on ESPN. The Irish defeated Michigan 75-65 Wednesday night.

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Turner tries to check Marquette's Cordell Henry.
(Michael E. Keating photos)
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        “We got a "W,' that's all that really matters,” Williams said. “It's not a one-man show; it's a team game. Other guys stepped up.”

        Say this for Xavier: Its games have been exciting. Again the outcome was not decided until the final minutes.

        The Golden Eagles were ahead 46-36 with 15:25 left after a 7-0 run.

        Xavier called timeout. The crowd of 5,006 was booing.

        The Musketeers did not quit. They were still behind 55-47 with 7:06 to play but came back to tie it at 57, then 60 with 2:40 left.

        Marquette (15-14) would get just one more basket. Maurice McAfee hit a big 3-pointer with the shot clock running out and 1:45 remaining to give Xavier the lead for good.

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Turner looks to pass.
(AP photo)
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        After Brian Wardle missed a 3-point attempt for Marquette and an XU timeout, Williams lobbed a pass inside to freshman David West, whose layup made it 65-60 with 55.3 seconds to go.

        The teams exchanged turnovers. John Cliff hit a high-arcing 3-pointer to make it 65-63 with 31 seconds remaining. Timeout Marquette.

        McAfee was fouled with 16.5 seconds left, but made just 1 of 2, giving Marquette a last chance.

        Following a timeout, Wardle had an open 3-point attempt and missed. Aaron Turner rebounded for Xavier and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left. He missed his first foul shot, then made the second to seal the victory.

        “There are more guys on the team that needed to help out, and that's what we did,” said Turner (eight points, seven rebounds). “We just did it. That's what good teams do when they're faced with something big -- they just buckle down and get it done.”

        After shooting just three foul shots in the first half, Xavier did a good job of getting the ball inside. They shot 26 free throws in the second half.

        Sophomore Kevin Frey scored 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead XU. West added 16 points and 11 rebounds -- his 10th double-double -- and McAfee 15 points. XU had just one second-half turnover.

        “I played horrible in the A-10 tournament,” Frey said. “I did not want to lose tonight. That's about it.”

        Marquette led 34-28 at halftime. The first 20 minutes belonged to 5-foot-9 sophomore point guard Cordell Henry, who was 8-of-10 from the field with 21 points -- tying his career high -- in the first half alone. He also tied a career high in field goals, and had just one fewer than the Musketeers had the entire half.

        “It looked like Oscar (Robertson) was playing back here,” Prosser said. “It looked like he was just shooting around in the park. We didn't pick him up early enough in transition.”

        Prosser put Turner at the top of the defense to chase Henry in the second half. Henry finished with 26 points and six assists. Cliff added 19 for Marquette.

        Xavier started 3-of-14 from the field and ended up shooting just 34.6 percent in the first half, to go with 13 turnovers. The Musketeers missed 3-pointers, layups, tip-ins. West was 0-for-3, Williams 1-for-8.

        Worse for XU, McAfee picked up his third personal foul with 4:36 remaining in the half and went to the bench. The Musketeers were already short-handed without Price, who was benched for missing practices Sunday and Monday.

        Marquette is scheduled to finish a home-and-home series with Xavier at the Cintas Center next season.

        “That was a fun game right there,” West said. “Marquette's a good team. I can't wait to play them again next year. I like good basketball games.”

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MARQUETTE (63)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Harris          36   3-4   2-4   2-6  0  4    8
Nnamaka         33   1-1   2-2   3-5  2  4    4
Cliff           32  7-14   0-0   1-2  1  3   19
Henry           32 10-15   3-3   0-3  6  2   26
Wardle          24  2-11   0-0   2-4  0  4    4
Barone           8   0-0   0-0   1-3  0  1    0
Miller          16   0-0   0-0   0-2  0  3    0
Diggs            8   1-4   0-0   0-0  1  1    2
Mueller          9   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  5    0
Clausen          2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-50   7-9 10-27 10 27   63
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.480, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:
8-22, .364 (Cliff 5-9, Henry 3-5, Wardle 0-6,
Diggs 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots:
None. Turnovers: 17 (Cliff 4, Harris 4, Henry 3,
Wardle 2, Barone, Mueller, Nnamaka). Steals: 8
(Henry 4, Cliff, Harris, Nnamaka, Wardle).


XAVIER (67)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Williams        38  1-13   0-1   1-3  4  2    3
Turner          30   3-4   2-3   4-7  2  1    8
West            38   4-8  8-14  7-11  2  2   16
Mcafee          31  4-10   3-4   1-4  2  4   15
Brown           26   1-6   1-2   0-0  3  2    4
Frey            34   7-9   5-5   2-5  0  3   21
Butler           3   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-50 19-29 16-31 13 14   67
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.400, FT-.655. 3-Point Goals:
8-21, .381 (Williams 1-7, Mcafee 4-8, Brown 1-3,
Frey 2-3). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: None.
Turnovers: 14 (Turner 4, Frey 3, Mcafee 3, Brown
2, West 2). Steals: 9 (West 3, Frey 2, Mcafee 2,
Brown, Turner).
__________________________________
Marquette          34   29  -   63
Xavier             28   39  -   67
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 5,006. Officials: Jim
Huetter, Pat Driscoll, Rich Giallella.

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