XAVIER 100, MORGAN STATE 67

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Brown's bombs hit mark

Tuesday, November 24, 1998

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

James Posey looks to dish. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

There was a time when Lenny Brown couldn't make three-point baskets with any consistency.

His offensive game was one-dimensional: Stop his drive, stop his production.

That was three years ago.

Times have certainly changed. Now a senior, he is presently Xavier's best three-point threat.

Brown got hot early in the second half and scored a team-high 23 points Monday night in the 13th-ranked Musketeers' 100-67 rout of Morgan State at the Cincinnati Gardens.

Xavier (3-0) blew open the game in the first 3:15 after intermission, pulling away from a 15-point lead with a 13-0 run. Brown started it with eight-straight points in 90 seconds, including back-to-back three-pointers.

Lenny Brown lays up. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"When shots go down, everything looks good," XU coach Skip Prosser said. "Lenny got us off, and that gave everybody energy. That was probably our best stretch of the year."

Brown's 23 points tied his high from last year, and he moved into 16th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,282 career points. He even sat out the last six minutes.

"I hope I wasn't hot," Brown said with a smile. "I hope I shoot like that all the time. I was open, and I have a lot of confidence in my shot right now."

When Brown looked at the statistics from Saturday's 40-point victory over Chicago State, he shook his head at 13 three-point attempts. He had not taken that many since December '96 at Akron. He vowed to go to the basket more. And he did in the first half Monday night.

His first points came on a short pull-up jumper on the baseline 30 seconds into the game. He got the hot hand from long distance after halftime.

"It's crazy," he said. "My role on the team has switched. ... But I don't want to just be that one-dimensional player and shoot threes. I've got to go to the hole and be aggressive again."

Brown is 10-of-22 on threes (45.5 percent), and the rest of the team is 11-of-48 (22.9 percent). When Brown was a freshman, he shot 32.6 from long distance. He totaled 28 threes that season, then had 56 as a sophomore.

Lloyd Price battles for loose ball. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

Meanwhile, backcourt mate Gary Lumpkin is 0-of-11 from three-point range. He ignored his jumper for most of the night, but he took the ball to the basket and scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting. He also had eight assists - one shy of his career high - and just one turnover. Lumpkin is shooting 33.3 percent from the field.

"Gary's gonna make 'em," Prosser said. "All I can tell him is keep shooting."

The inside game came courtesy of James Posey and Desmond Walker. Walker had his first career double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds in 21 minutes. Posey, who did have two three-pointers, had his third straight double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and he added six steals.

Now the warmups are over. Awaiting Xavier next is Pittsburgh Thursday in Puerto Rico. Then perhaps four straight top-25 teams. A few things Xavier has to shore up for those games:

• The transition defense still needs work. In the first eight minutes, Morgan State was shooting 70 percent from the field, mostly because of layups after beating the Musketeers down the court.

• XU's rebounding needs to improve. Morgan State (1-4) had a 20-19 advantage at halftime, and had five shots on one possession thanks to its offensive rebounding (13 total). The Musketeers rallied for a 41-30 edge in the game.

Notebook: Butler on the mark
Season in stories

MORGAN ST (67)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Sparks          33  7-13   1-4   3-5  3  0   15
King            30  7-18   0-1   1-4  1  3   14
Canady          17   1-3   1-2   0-2  1  4    3
Fields          30   1-5   0-0   0-3  8  4    2
Herron          31   1-1   0-0   0-1  6  2    2
Demory          10   4-7   2-2   0-0  0  0   14
Van Hook        11   3-6   0-0   0-1  0  1    7
Bullock          4   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Qualls          16   1-2   3-4   1-1  0  4    5
Lewis           18   2-5   1-3   4-7  1  4    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-61  8-16  9-25 20 24   67
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.443, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
5-14, .357 (Sparks 0-2, Fields 0-3, Demory 4-7,
Van Hook 1-1, Bullock 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 4 (King 2, Sparks, Qualls).
Turnovers: 27 (Herron 7, Fields 6, Sparks 5, King
3, Lewis 2, Qualls 2, Demory, Van Hook). Steals:
15 (Sparks 4, Fields 3, Herron 2, Lewis 2, Qualls
2, Canady, Van Hook).


XAVIER (100)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Price           28  5-10   3-4   1-3  3  0   13
Posey           30  6-11   1-1  2-11  3  4   15
Butler          19   4-4   0-0   0-2  1  4    8
L Brown         26  8-13   4-4   0-2  4  1   23
Lumpkin         27   3-4   3-7   0-1  8  2    9
Frey            20   0-3   2-2   4-5  0  1    2
Catarella        1   0-0   3-3   0-0  0  0    3
Mcafee          14   2-3   3-4   1-1  1  0    9
A Brown         11   1-6   1-2   0-0  1  0    3
Robertson        1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Careathers       1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Walker          21   5-8   5-8  6-14  3  4   15
Baronas          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 34-62 25-35 14-39 25 16  100
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.548, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
7-18, .389 (Price 0-2, Posey 2-4, L Brown 3-5,
Lumpkin 0-1, Mcafee 2-3, A Brown 0-3). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 6 (Frey 2, Walker 2,
Robertson, Lumpkin). Turnovers: 18 (Posey 6,
Price 5, Mcafee 2, A Brown, Butler, Catarella,
Frey, Lumpkin). Steals: 16 (Posey 6, L Brown 4,
Frey 2, A Brown, Mcafee, Price, Walker).
__________________________________
Morgan St          30   37  -   67
Xavier             45   55  -  100
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 8,248. Officials:
Jackie Sanders, Buddy Mayborg, Keith Herring.