By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

David West received an All-America award Tuesday afternoon and showed he was worthy of it Tuesday night.

David West had 23 points. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

It was just an exhibition game, but the 6-foot-9 senior forward practically carried Xavier in the first half en route to an 80-72 win against One World All-Stars at Cintas Center. He scored from all over the court and finished the game with 23 points.

Other than West, who made eight of 10 first-half field goal attempts, Xavier players connected on just seven of 28 shots in the first 20 minutes.

"We started off terrible," said Xavier point guard Lionel Chalmers. "And (West) held us in there. He held on and kept us going. You can't say enough about him."

Earlier in the day, West was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America team. But less than a week before the season's first game, against St. Peter's, the rest of the Xavier team is still in preseason mode.

"We're not as good as people have been telling us we are," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "This team still has work to do."

Romain Sato shoots over former Musketeer Darnell Williams. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

One World was a step up from last week's exhibition team, EA Sports, in terms of presenting a challenging warmup for the regular season. Darnell Williams, a Xavier standout during the late 1990s, played his first game for One World and showed up his former team with 19 points, 14 of which came in the first half when he made five of six shots, including three 3-pointers.

"I was just trying to guard him the best I can," said shooting guard Romain Sato. "He's a good player."

Williams' outside shooting and One World point guard Kareem Reid's ability to control the tempo of the game were major reasons Xavier led just 36-34 at halftime.

Of course, Xavier's poor shooting had something to do with that, too. Sato, who playing despite having an upset stomach, made just one of six shots in the first half and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. He also had three turnovers in the half.

Lionel Chalmers had 14 points. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

"The big thing tonight was when our shots didn't go in early, we tied our offense to our defense," Matta said. "We're going to have nights like that. When we're not shooting well, we have to be mentally tough to fight our way through that."

It didn't take Xavier long to warm up in the second half, as Sato scored 11 points in the first four minutes. He finished with 21 points, missed just three shots in the second half and led Xavier with seven rebounds.

"I had to pick my game up," Sato said. "That's what I was trying to do in the second half. We just had to come back in the second half like were used to playing."

Chalmers scored 14 points and had nine rebounds but more importantly came up with nine assists and committed just two turnovers.

"Guys were open," he said, "and if guys are open, I'm going to find them."

One of his assists came on an alley-oop to Keith Jackson in the second half that put Xavier ahead 63-47. Jackson was given a technical foul for hanging on the rim, but the technical was taken away when officials determined he had to hang on to avoid hitting Williams below.

Xavier centers Anthony Myles and Will Caudle continued to share minutes, playing 19 and 17 respectively. Myles started and grabbed six rebounds and scored nine points.

"Anthony played better tonight," Matta said. "He's still learning and made a couple mental mistakes. Will gave us great energy in the second half. I think that those two can continue to battle it out, and I hope they continue to compete for those minutes."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

OWAS	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Jesse	19	1	4	0	0	2	0	2	3	2
Edwards	23	5	15	3	4	4	1	3	3	14
Lewin	23	4	10	0	0	15	1	3	2	8
Harrington	6	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	2	0
Reid	37	8	12	4	8	3	6	1	1	20
Smith	10	0	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0
Capers	22	2	5	1	3	2	0	2	1	5
Williams	26	7	11	1	2	3	1	3	0	19
Hoover	14	1	2	0	0	3	0	4	1	2
Malone	20	1	4	0	0	4	1	2	4	2
Totals	200	29	67	9	17	38	12	24	17	72

Team rebounds: 1

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Young	28	1	9	0	0	3	0	2	1	2
West	33	10	16	3	7	10	2	3	2	23
Myles	19	3	7	3	6	6	2	1	1	9
Chalmers	33	5	13	3	4	9	9	4	2	14
Sato	31	7	15	4	7	12	2	1	4	21
Smith	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Finn	16	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	2	4
Coleman	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Jackson	12	1	1	2	4	1	0	0	0	4
Caudle	17	1	2	1	3	5	0	3	2	3
Totals	200	30	65	16	33	48	15	15	15	80

Team rebounds: 2.

One World	34	38	-72
Xavier	36	44	-80

Attendance-6,535. 3-point goals-OW 5-15 (Jesse 0-1, Edwards 1-3, Harrington 0-1, Smith 0-2, Capers 0-2, Williams 4-6); XU 4-15 (Young 0-2, West 0-1, Chalmers 1-4, Sato 3-8). Technical fouls-None. Officials-Clark, Jenkins, Walton.