By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier's David West is called for charging against Alabama's Earnest Shelton. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Xavier's David West seemed headed for a career game at halftime of Saturday's game against No. 1 Alabama.

He had scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes, and Xavier trailed by just three points. But West practically disappeared in the second half and didn't register a single point or rebound as the Crimson Tide (10-1) pulled away and survived a late Musketeers rally to win 65-58 in front of 15,316 at Coleman Coliseum.

Xavier (9-3) beat No. 15 Creighton on Tuesday and was going for a second straight win against a ranked team to improve its own ranking, which stands at No. 19.

"I didn't expect to get shut out in the second half," said West, a first-team preseason All-American. "It wasn't really anything (Alabama) did, because I was still getting good looks."

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried switched defenders on West in the second half and put another preseason All-American, Erwin Dudley, on West.

"My teammates helped me double down on West, and I was able to get the ball out of his hands," Dudley said.

Dudley finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but more importantly, he challenged West on the boards, to the point that West became visibly upset at being called for a foul on a rebound with 10:31 to play and Alabama leading 53-43.

"It was just a matter of a lot of frustration built up and it came out," said West, who shouted at the referees for about 15 seconds but was not given a technical foul.

Xavier hoped for another upset before starting the Atlantic 10 Conference season Tuesday against Richmond at Cintas Center.

Alabama's Erwin Dudley, front, goes for the basket as Xavier's Keith Jackson and David West watch. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Although West was shut down, the Musketeers hung around, thanks in part to Romain Sato's 17 second-half points. Trailing 61-58 with 37 second to play, Xavier had the ball after closing a 13-point gap in five minutes.

Coming out of a timeout, Xavier set up a play for West, who drove to the basket and kicked the ball outside to Sato, who was standing behind the 3-point line.

But West charged into Alabama's Earnest Shelton on the play to turn over the ball to Alabama, which made four free throws in the final seconds to close out the game.

"I saw West had the ball, and I knew he would be driving, so I just ran in front of him," Shelton said.

West was not happy with the call.

"It was a bad call the ref made," he said. "And we don't get a chance to determine the outcome ourselves."

Three Xavier players played 40 minutes for the second straight game. Starting guard Lionel Chalmers' broken foot and player departures have left Xavier coach Thad Matta with a seven-man rotation.

West and freshman point guard Dedrick Finn both played 40 minutes against Creighton and Alabama. It's something they will have to get used to doing.

"There's no room on this team for guys to be tired," West said.

Matta said mental fatigue may have contributed to some of Xavier's 19 turnovers, which resulted in 26 Alabama points.

"When you play a team like Alabama, they're very talented and you can't give them easy shots," Matta said.

Reserve guard Antoine Pettway made five steals and point guard Mo Williams scored 17 points.

Xavier took an early 16-11 lead behind inside scoring from West, but a mix of a half-court press and a zone defense took away West on offense for seven minutes and the Crimson Tide rallied to take a 30-16 lead.

Xavier eventually responded with a 13-0 run and cut Alabama's lead to 35-32 going into halftime.

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Myles	25	3	5	1	2	10	1	1	1	7
West	40	5	13	5	5	8	3	4	6	16
Sato	38	6	15	6	8	4	0	4	5	20
Finn	40	2	7	0	0	1	6	2	4	6
Jackson	40	4	11	1	2	5	0	4	2	9
Smith	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Caudle	10	0	1	0	0	1	0	4	1	0
Totals	200	20	52	13	17	34	10	19	19	58

Team rebounds - 5.

Alabama	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Thomas	17	3	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	7
Dudley	34	6	13	6	8	10	0	2	1	18
Walker	21	0	4	0	0	5	1	3	1	0
Meade	15	2	6	0	0	1	1	0	1	4
Williams	38	6	14	3	4	2	4	3	3	17
Davis	21	2	5	0	0	4	1	4	1	4
Shelton	26	3	4	0	0	2	0	3	2	9
Brock	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	0
Smith	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Pettway	22	1	5	4	6	1	5	0	2	6
Totals	200	23	55	13	18	33	12	18	13	65

Team rebounds - 6.

Xavier	32	26	-58
Alabama	35	30	-65

3-pointers - XU 5-14 (West 1-1, Sato 2-7, Finn 2-6), A 6-20 (Thomas 1-2, Meade 0-4, Williams 2-7, Shelton 3-4, Pettway 0-3). Technicals - None. Officials - Boudreaux, Lindsay, Kersey. Attendance - 15,316.