By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

How much bigger can it get for Xavier and Dayton?

Today the A-10 leaders face off in a first-place rematch with both teams ranked in the Top 25 for the first time ever in the history of this 133-game series. It is set to tip off at 2 p.m. at University of Dayton Arena, but the excitement for this game has been building since Xavier won Round 1, 85-77 at Cintas Center Feb. 8, forcing a tie atop the Atlantic 10 West Division standings with the Flyers.

Neither team has lost since, and the Musketeers (19-4, 10-1) are riding a 10-game winning streak that has pushed them to No. 14 in the nation. The Flyers (19-4, 11-1) defeated then-No. 25 Saint Joseph's Feb. 15 and entered the rankings at No. 25 this week. Dayton has lost its last four games against Xavier, however, including a 66-59 setback at UD Arena last season.

"I'd say the pressure is pretty equal for both teams," said UD coach Oliver Purnell, who labeled today's game as the biggest ever between XU and UD. "You look at what's at stake in this game. Both teams are ranked, it's for first place. This is several degrees above the first game (Feb. 8)."

Indeed it is, because, barring any unlikely upsets in the next two weeks, the winner is all but assured the A-10 West title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, to be played at Dayton March 13-15.

"I think the buildup is there because we've both been winning since the first game," said Xavier coach Thad Matta.

In the minutes following UD's loss to Xavier at Cintas Center, Purnell cautioned his team against taking it too hard.

"Forget about it," Purnell told his team. "This game is over, and there's nothing you can do about it. But that game will come again in a couple weeks, and maybe it will mean a little more than it does today."

Today's game could end up being just the second-biggest XU-UD game of the season if the two teams meet in the A-10 Tournament championship game. In that case, not only would a league title be on the line, it probably would be the difference between three or four NCAA Tournament seeding placements as well.

But for now, today's game is in the spotlight, especially for fans at sold-out UD Arena, where Xavier won last year for the first time since 1994. Trying to repeat there with so much at stake makes this game the biggest of the season for Xavier, Keith Jackson said.

"It has to be," Jackson said. "This is for the A-10 championship. They're still a half-game in front of us, so this is going to be our biggest game of the year. We have to beat them in there."

It will take the same type of offensive efficiency Xavier has shown in its last two games for that to happen. Spurred by Romain Sato's hot shooting, the Musketeers made 50 percent of their field goal attempts against Rhode Island and La Salle. During its current 10-game winning streak, Xavier has outscored its opponents by an average of 19.0 points, and West has shot 56 percent from the field.

That is why it was such a surprise when Dayton took an early 24-11 lead in its previous game against XU before the Musketeers settled down.

"We made some scouting errors early," said David West, who scored a career-high 47 points in the win against Dayton. "We didn't do things and we didn't start the way we were supposed to. We eliminate those mistakes and maybe we win by even more. The key up there is going to be the way we come out and start off the game. We can't allow them to have control of the game."

Because West was so dominant two weeks ago, the Flyers probably will try to go at him early down low with forward Keith Waleskowski and center Sean Finn in an effort to draw fouls on West. Purnell has said he does not intend to switch from the man-to-man defense Dayton applied on West in the first game.

No Xavier player except West scored in the first game until Dayton briefly went to a zone defense to try to stop him after he scored Xavier's first 13 points. Sato made a layup as soon as Dayton went to the zone, and he and West scored 32 of Xavier's 35 first-half points.

"Once a guy gets going, it's my job to get him the ball," said guard Lionel Chalmers. "That's what I'm going to do. If it happens to be me, then I'm pretty sure the guys will get the ball to me. Whoever steps up, so be it. We're a team, and we're going to do what it takes to win."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

Winning streaks

It seems Xavier coach Thad Matta has Dayton figured out. He is 4-0 against Dayton and swept UD in three games last season. His predecessor, Skip Prosser, was never able to beat Dayton more than once in a season over a seven-year period. Matta has a long way to go to match the 10 wins in a row Dayton posted over Xavier from 1973-77. Here's a look at the longest winning streaks in the 133-game series, which Dayton leads 77-56.

Team	Years	Streak
Dayton	1973-77	10
Dayton	1965-68	8
Dayton	1954-57	8
Xavier	1992-94	7
Dayton	1950-52	7
Dayton	1969-71	6

No. 14 Xavier at Dayton

Tipoff: 2 p.m. today, University of Dayton Arena (13,455).

Records: XU (19-4, 10-1) Dayton (19-4, 11-1).

Radio: WKRC-AM (550).

TV: ESPN.

Series: Dayton leads 77-56.

Favorite: Pick.

XAVIER

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Lionel Chalmers	Sr.	6-0	11.0
Romain Sato	Jr.	6-5	18.2
Dedrick Finn	Fr.	6-1	7.5
David West	Sr.	6-9	20.0
Anthony Myles	Jr.	6-9	10.6

Coach: Thad Matta (45-10, second season; 69-18 overall).

DAYTON

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Brooks Hall	Sr.	6-6	13.3
Keith Waleskowski	Jr.	6-9	12.7
Sean Finn	Jr.	6-11	9.3
Mark Jones	So.	6-1	11.6
Ramod Marshall	Jr.	6-2	11.6

Coach: Oliver Purnell (150-114, ninth season; 251-189 overall).