Welcome to the suck-it-up portion of the Xavier Musketeers schedule, when the coach claims fatigue is in your head and the second man off the bench is a freshman walk-on nicknamed Bitter Beer Face.

It is easy for Thad Matta to say exhaustion is a state of mind. He's not playing at a pace-car pace against St. Bonaventure for 40 minutes. His calves don't feel like a five-alarm fire. "It's not really the lungs,'' explained Keith Jackson. "It's the legs."

Lungs, legs, spleen, whatever. The Muskies have at least four more games without injured point guard Lionel Chalmers, four more times they need to keep their promising season from unspooling. Four more shows, they hope, like the 99-83 whacking they put on the Bonnies Saturday.

It's a fine line at places like Xavier, between a Top 25 ranking and another eighth seed in the NCAA tournament. Even when your team is whole. The Muskies appeared to have fallen off the line Tuesday, melting down at home against Richmond. They're back on it today.

"Guys did a good job of hanging tough," David West decided.

So did West. After his own meltdown Tuesday, West stayed close to the basket and close to the vest. He scored 26 points in 35 minutes and had nothing consequential to say to the officials. "What I liked best was his dunks," Matta said.

Xavier's Romain Sato takes time out in the second half. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

It had been a rough few days for the senior all-American, whose composure was questioned and whose character was likened on one talk show to that of Derrick Coleman. Derrick Coleman? Coleman's stare could get him arrested. West played the tuba in high school.

"I kind of want to let (Tuesday's problems) wash down," West said. "I'm not the only guy on this basketball team. Everybody's role is magnified now."

You wonder if West hasn't had life's heavy weight on him since Chalmers broke his foot. Xavier's best player also has to be its leader, spokesman, scorer and motivator. He has to take double-teams, occasionally bring the ball up and, oh yeah, impress the NBA people watching.

West admitted to no extra burden. "Nah. You might get down and start swaying" if you thought that way, he said

Xavier had no crisis Saturday, beyond running a 40-minute windsprint. The Bonnies pressed full-court most of the game, and ran all of it, trying to wear down the thin Muskies. "If you think you're tired, you're tired,'' Matta said. "When I was at Butler, we only had six guys."

After Dedrick Finn fouled out with 7 minutes to play, Xavier's point guard was whoever got the defensive rebound. That included West who, at one point, went end-to-end with a rebound and a dunk. "Whatever it takes," he said.

For another few weeks, it will take some sweet minutes from Bitter Beer Face, the nickname Chalmers applied like a pie in the eyes to Keenan Christiansen.

The freshman provided 13 solid minutes of quality breathing time to Finn and others Saturday. As a prep player in Pennsylvania, Christiansen helped his team to four state titles.

"I knew Keenan Christiansen could play," Matta said. "He had Division I scholarship offers and he wanted to come to Xavier." Matta praised Christiansen's savvy and toughness. "Battle-hangin'," the coach called it.

Including this game, the Muskies play three times in eight days. They're going to need a lot of battle hangin'. Right now, Xavier's margin of error as thin as its bench. So far, so good.

E-mail: Pdaugherty@enquirer.com