By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier's Will Caudle shoots over Mercer's Scott Emerson. (Mike Simons photo) | ZOOM |

It's no secret that Xavier University will lean heavily on its guards to guide the team offensively. But the Musketeers showed on Sunday they will try to make their attack as balanced as possible.

For the second straight night, Xavier began a game with a barrage of 3-pointers and pulled away to advance in the Dell Black Coaches Association Classic. The Musketeers' 72-58 win against Mercer University in front of 9,209 at Cintas Center places them in tonight's championship game (8 p.m.) against Oakland University.

But unlike Xavier's opener on Saturday, the Musketeers managed to come up with an inside presence on both ends of the court from post players.

The beginning of the game was more of the same. Dedrick Finn, Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato connected early from 3-point range and scored 32 of Xavier's 39 first-half points, 18 of which came from long range.

"When Lionel, Dedrick and Romain have open 3s, I'm OK with that," said Xavier coach Thad Matta. "If those guys can knock them down, we'll take those."

That's where the 3-point shooting stopped, however. Xavier got the big men involved at the start of the second half.

"Coach (Matta) said, 'We're going to you,' " said center Anthony Myles. "We're going to nobody but you."

Xavier deliberately went to Myles and Will Caudle throughout the final 20 minutes. Myles, who scored one point in the first half, finished with a team-high 15.

"I've got to do something with it when I get it," said Myles, who scored just three points in Xavier's opening game. "Or I won't get it."

Caudle finished with a career-high eight rebounds. Reserve forward Brandon Cole scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds.

---

---

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

Xavier vs. Oakland

Tipoff: 8 p.m. today, Cintas Center (10,250).

Records: Xavier 2-0, Oakland 2-0.

Radio: WLW-AM (700).

TV: Fox Sports Net Ohio.

Xavier

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG*
Romain Sato	Sr.	6-5	19.0
Anthony Myles	Sr.	6-9	9.0
Lionel Chalmers	Sr.	6-0	12.0
Dedrick Finn	So.	6-1	10.0
Will Caudle	So.	6-9	6.0

Coach: Thad Matta (54-12, 3rd year; 78-20 overall)

*2002-03

Oakland

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG*
Kelly Williams	Sr.	6-5	8.0
Cortney Scott	Sr.	6-2	9.5
Jordan Sabourin	Sr.	7-0	1.0
Rawle Marshall	Jr.	6-7	22.0
Mike Helms	Sr.	6-0	29.0

Coach: Greg Kampe (325-219, 20th year; 325-219 overall)

*2002-03

Today's BCA Classic games

• San Diego (0-2) vs. Coppin State (0-2), noon

• UC Irvine (1-1) vs. Ohio (1-1), 2 p.m.

• Illinois-Chicago (1-1) vs. Mercer (1-1), 5:30 p.m.

Game stats

Mercer	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Emerson	31	10	18	4	4	10	2	2	2	25
Duke	28	0	7	1	2	6	2	4	4	1
January	33	4	11	0	0	4	2	3	5	9
Odoms	30	2	10	0	0	1	2	2	1	6
McCurry	24	1	1	0	0	3	4	1	2	3
Hammonds	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Hansen	13	2	4	0	0	1	0	4	0	4
Matthews	14	1	3	0	0	1	3	3	2	2
Emerson	10	2	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	4
Walker	15	1	4	0	0	3	1	1	0	2
Totals	200	24	61	5	6	38	16	20	16	58

Team rebounds - 5.

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Caudle	22	3	9	0	0	8	0	1	1	6
Myles	24	6	11	3	6	1	0	3	1	15
Chalmers	32	4	9	2	2	3	6	2	3	12
Sato	35	4	8	5	8	6	5	2	2	14
Finn	29	4	6	0	0	1	3	0	0	11
Cage	12	1	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	2
Smith	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Doellman	13	0	3	0	0	1	0	2	1	0
Jackson	16	2	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	5
Cole	12	3	5	1	2	5	0	0	0	7
Totals	200	27	58	12	21	13	14	13	9	72

Team rebounds - 1.

Mercer	30	28	-58
Xavier	39	33	-72

3-pointers - M 5-15 (Emerson 1-3, January 1-4, Odoms 2-5, McCurry 1-1), XU 6-14 (Chalmers 2-5, Sato 1-3, Finn 3-5, Doellman 0-1). Technicals - XU-Team. Officials - Natili, Eades, Spainhour. Attendance - 9,209.