By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

OLEAN, N.Y. - A St. Bonaventure fan held up a sign before Wednesday's game against Xavier at Reilly Center that read, "We're giving up losing for Lent."

St. Bonaventure played as if it believed that for one half, while Xavier couldn't even hang onto the ball.

A devastating upset was in the making, but XU corrected its ball handling and shot its way to a 65-49 victory, the Musketeers' seventh straight win.

Xavier (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic 10) avoided a loss that probably would have ended its NCAA Tournament at-large chances. With Richmond's loss to Rhode Island Wednesday, Xavier also took over sole possession of third place in the A-10 West.

"We got out to the early lead, and really lost our attention to detail and our focus," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "We're a team that when we turn the basketball over, we're not very good."

Xavier committed 10 first-half turnovers, most of them on careless passes.

St. Bonaventure (6-18, 2-11), a team with nine consecutive losses, trailed 23-17 when Maurice Young converted a steal into a layup with 6:04 left in the half. Xavier went ahead 25-17 on an Anthony Mylesbank shot, but St. Bonaventure outscored the Musketeers 12-4 in the last five minutes before the break.

"We got out of sync and gave them momentum and too many chances," senior guard Lionel Chalmers said. "Too many open-court chances."

Young scored the last seven points of the half for St. Bonaventure, and his 3-pointer with 52 seconds left tied the score at 29going into halftime.

"We had a lot of confidence," Young said. "We definitely thought anything could happen if we came out and gave the same effort in the second half."

Young scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half. Xavier's leading scorer, Romain Sato, was limited to five first half points and one field goal. He finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Xavier freshman Justin Doellman hit a pair of 3-pointers to open the second half, a sign of what was to come.

"They really gave us, not a cushion, but a sense of, 'Now we can put a little more focus on our defense,' " Matta said. "There wasn't the pressure of the score being tied, or that bucket ties it up."

Xavier led 41-33 with just more than 13 minutes left, when four different Xavier players led a 12-0 run, all on 3-pointers. First, Chalmersspotted up for 3 in transition. The next time down the court, Sato made a 3 from the corner. Dedrick Finn followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Then, with 12:11 left, Doellman completed the run with a 3-pointer on the wing.

In four possessions, Xavier built a 20-point lead, and the outcome was never in question again.

"We got guys that can shoot the ball," Chalmers said. "I told them, 'I'm going to penetrate and kick it to them. If they're open, knock it down.' "

It took the Musketeers more than 13 minutes to commit a turnover in the second half. After playing one of its sloppiest first halves of the season, Xavier finished with 13 turnovers and 12 assists.

Defensively, Xavier shut down St. Bonaventure in the second half, limiting the Bonnies to seven field goals and 23.3 percent shooting from the field.

"I'm surprised by their record," Chalmers said. "They hung in there with us for a while, but we made some adjustments and turned it around."

Xavier has two home games, Saturday against Duquesne and next Wednesday against George Washington, before finishing the regular season at Temple March 6.

"The last two Wednesdays, both on the road, we haven't played in stretches real good basketball," Matta said. "We've got to get that ironed out. I like the fact that we've won seven in row and the fact that we've fought through some tough situations."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Cage	22	2	3	0	0	4	2	2	2	4
Doellman	31	3	4	3	4	2	1	2	2	12
Myles	23	5	9	0	2	7	1	2	1	10
Chalmers	39	4	12	3	4	4	2	1	4	13
Sato	38	3	10	4	4	8	3	2	4	12
Finn	28	3	5	0	0	3	0	1	0	8
Jackson	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Christianson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cole	14	3	4	0	0	3	0	0	0	6
Caudle	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	23	49	10	14	34	9	10	13	65

Team rebounds - 1.

St. Bonaventure	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Am. Smith	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Carter	27	1	3	0	0	2	0	1	0	2
Green	39	3	14	0	0	3	6	2	5	8
An. Smith	18	0	4	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Dumbliauskas	16	2	6	0	0	5	0	3	2	4
Stevens	1	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Sutton	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Young	37	7	13	0	0	5	4	1	3	16
Lottin	30	5	13	0	0	5	1	4	2	12
Lewis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Struble	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Camara	24	1	3	5	5	7	0	4	1	7
Totals	200	19	59	5	5	34	12	15	13	49

Team rebounds - 3.

Xavier	29	36	- 65
St. Bonaventure	29	20	- 49

3-pointers - Xavier 9-19 (Doellman 3-4, Chalmers 2-7, Sato 2-4, Finn 2-4), St. Bonaventure 6-25 (Green 2-11, An. Smith 0-2, Dumbliauskas 0-1, Sutton 0-1, Young 2-5, Lottin 2-5). Technicals - None. Officials - Glenn Mayborg, Ray Perone, John LaRocca. Attendance - 5,392.