Monday, March 06, 2000

XU gives Gardens proper sendoff

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Muskies trounce St. Joseph's 94-66

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Darnell Williams says his goodbyes to Cincinnati Gardens. (Craig Ruttle photos) | ZOOM |

        A few minutes after the final buzzer sounded, 3,000 blue and white balloons dropped from the rafters.

        It was Xavier's final regular-season game at the Cincinnati Gardens, and the Musketeers made sure the 9,390 fans had reason to celebrate.

        They coasted to a 94-66 victory over St.Joseph's on Sunday and left the court to a standing ovation.

        Next season, XU moves into its on-campus arena, the Cintas Center. The Musketeers have won 30 of their last 31 games at the Gardens and would return only if XU ends up playing host to a National Invitation Tournament game.

        “That's why I don't ever want to see it again,” said senior Darnell Williams, who would prefer to be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Lloyd Price finger roll. | ZOOM |

        Xavier takes a 19-10 record into the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, which starts Wednesday in Philadelphia. The Musketeers finished 9-7 in league play, tied with George Washington for second place in the West Division.

        They had a season-low seven turnovers Sunday, won the rebounding battle 40-30 and shot 50.8 percent from the field.

        “Except for a stretch in the second half when we didn't really value the ball much, I thought we played as well as we've played all year,” coach Skip Prosser said. “We couldn't have asked for much better.”

        Rightly so, Sunday belonged to Williams, who was recognized with his parents and classmates on Senior Day.

        He scored 23 points, one shy of his season high, on 7-of-12 shooting. He has scored in double figures in eight consecutive games, averaging 18.8 points during that stretch.

        “It was great, emotional,” Williams said. “But it's even better that we got the job done. My mother was here and that's real special to me. For her to be here to see me play a home game and actually play well, it makes it even better.”

        “I've been fortunate I've been around for a lot of really good (shooting) guards at this school, and ... he's got to be in that pantheon of outstanding Xavier (shooting) guards,” Prosser said.

Aaron Turner dunks | ZOOM |

        Sophomore Aaron Turner, who started at power forward to give Xavier a more effective press, tied his career high with 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 30 minutes.

        Turner, who was 5-of-6 from the field, had not scored more than five points since Jan.11.

        “I don't care about scoring really,” he said. “I was passing up shots. Coach told me that they needed me to score more. I was basically like (Dennis) Rodman out there, just boarding and playing "D'. He told me it would take pressure off of Moe and the (others) if I started scoring more.”

        XU trailed 7-6, then scored 12 unanswered points and was ahead the rest of the day. The Musketeers led 46-32 at halftime and were up 23 points 4¹/₂ minutes into the second half.

        The statistic that most pleased Prosser: 21 assists, XU's fourth-best total of the season. XU is 9-0 when having at least 18 assists.

        “When we share the ball, we have a chance to be pretty good on offense,” Prosser said.

        “We had to send the seniors out with a good win, especially with what was at stake,” McAfee said. “We want to make the NCAA. That's what we're looking forward to.”

        “We couldn't have come into the (league) tournament any better than this with the situation were in,” Price said. “There was a lot of emotion behind this game, and we have to go to Philly with the same frame of mind if we want to come out successfully.”

        Xavier will have to win four games in four days to win the championship. Can that happen?

        “Yeah, anything's possible,” Williams said. “We just have to take it game by game and don't look past anybody, don't worry about who gets the credit and just play. Anything can happen.”

XAVIER NOTEBOOK
A-10 tournament preview
A-10 tournament schedule
Xavier women reach A-10 finals

 
ST JOSEPHS PA (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Oconner         27  3-11   1-2   0-1  1  4   10
Jennings        15   0-1   3-4   0-0  1  2    3
Reid            21   2-5   1-2   2-4  0  5    5
Crenshaw        33   6-7   2-2   1-6  1  1   15
Howard          31   4-8   4-7  4-11  1  2   12
Leib             2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Martelli Jr      1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Brown           24   1-5   3-4   0-0  1  1    5
Zielenbach       2   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Wilkins         10   2-3   0-0   0-0  1  2    5
Phillips        22   2-4   3-4   0-3  5  5    9
Woods            8   1-4   0-0   1-1  0  0    2
Ngounou          4   0-1   0-4   2-2  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-51 17-29 10-28 12 24   66
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.412, FT-.586. 3-Point Goals:
7-23, .304 (Oconner 3-9, Crenshaw 1-2, Leib 0-1,
Brown 0-3, Zielenbach 0-1, Wilkins 1-1, Phillips
2-4, Woods 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots:
3 (Woods 2, Howard). Turnovers: 13 (Crenshaw 4,
Howard 4, Jennings 2, Oconner, Phillips, Woods).
Steals: 2 (Jennings, Phillips).

XAVIER (94)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Price           36   2-6   6-6  2-10  3  3   11
Turner          30   5-6   3-3   3-8  0  0   13
West            24   3-5   2-4   0-5  5  4    8
Mcafee          31   5-7   4-4   0-1  8  3   17
Williams        34  7-12  5-10   1-1  3  1   23
Frey            19   3-8   0-0   0-3  1  2    7
Mcintosh         1   1-1   0-0   0-2  0  0    2
Johnson          1   0-1   0-0   1-1  1  0    0
Brown           15   1-7   2-2   2-2  0  3    5
Harris           2   1-2   1-2   1-2  0  1    3
Mason            1   2-3   1-1   2-3  0  1    5
Ballinger        1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Butler           5   0-0   0-1   0-0  0  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 30-59 24-33 12-38 21 20   94
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.508, FT-.727. 3-Point Goals:
10-21, .476 (Price 1-3, Mcafee 3-5, Williams 4-7,
Frey 1-3, Brown 1-2, Ballinger 0-1). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Price, West).
Turnovers: 7 (Mcafee 5, Turner, West). Steals: 7
(Mcafee 2, Williams 2, Ballinger, Brown, West).
__________________________________
St Josephs Pa      32   34  -   66
Xavier             46   48  -   94
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 9,390. Officials: Joe
Mingle, Donnie Gray, Rich Sanfillipo.

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