Romain Sato had 19 points and 15 rebounds. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        DAYTON, Ohio — It was the season's first practice when the Xavier Musketeers broke a huddle with their familiar cry, “One, two, three ... defense!” Thad Matta interjected: “No, no, no. "Team.'”

        XU's new coaching staff built a bunker mentality. It closed practices to media and outsiders, with Matta telling the players: “It's just us here. We have to rely on each other.” He gave them T-shirts which read, simply, “Team.”

        It seems to have taken root. Xavier claimed one of its most impressive road victories in recent vintage Saturday with a 66-59 triumph at Dayton, and the Musketeers spoke with a confidence afterward that matched their on-court calm.

        “We're making strides. We're getting stronger,” junior guard Lionel Chalmers said. “We're developing a lot of confidence in each other. That's our main focus: Play together.”

        XU (9-3) won its Atlantic 10 opener in a place it had lost its last six trips, handing UD (8-4) its first loss in eight home games this season. The Musketeers continued their dazzling defensive season, holding UD to 32.3 percent shooting and turning the game around by forcing 20 consecutive Flyers misses in one stretch.

Lionel Chalmers, grabbing a loose ball, had 14 points. | ZOOM |

        Romain Sato, in his return to his adopted hometown, won game MVP honors with 19 points and 15 rebounds. David West added 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.

        What Matta is cultivating is about poise, smarts and self-reliance. It's less of the style and speed of Xavier teams past, and more of the blue-collar grit of man-to-man defense and patient possessions.

        “It's a different team than Xavier's had in maybe 15 years,” said XU radio analyst Steve Wolf, a former Musketeer. “It goes back to two things: defense and mental toughness. Xavier is probably as mentally tough as ever.”

        XU is allowing just 38.3 percent shooting and 61.0 points a game, its best numbers of the past 40 years, but this wasn't an overnight change. Matta said the victory at Creighton two weeks prior, when XU came through late to break the Bluejays' 20-game home winning streak, was the first time he heard the players talking in the locker room about how the team unity was working.

        “That's been our main focus since Aug.29 (when school started),” Matta said. “We have to win as a group, because we're not that deep.”

David Young celebrates | ZOOM |

        XU has a four-game winning streak, and Saturday's victory was over the team picked as its top challenger in the A-10 West. The Musketeers are 4-1 on the road and have victories this season at two places, Miami and Dayton, where it hadn't won since the Pete Gillen era.

        “Coach talks about the notion that we're going to win games together,” West said. “Everything everyone does is to help the team concept, right down to guys on the bench cheering or pointing out things they see in the game to help us. All the little things are important.”

        XU held UD without a field goal Saturday for a 12:48 stretch, during which the Flyers totaled just five free throws over 17 possessions. When the run began, UD led 18-12 with 8:02 left in the first half. XU had a 15-4 run to take a 27-22 lead early in the second half.

        The Flyers rallied to a 30-30 tie with 11:46 left. But Sato hit Chalmers streaking to the basket for the go-ahead layup and XU outscored the Flyers 18-9 over the next 5 1/2 minutes. West scored six points in the last 91 seconds to help clinch it.

        The players said it all comes back to chemistry.

        “We are so different this year,” Sato said. “Everything we do, we do together. Everybody's together. Everybody plays hard.”

XAVIER (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Frey            31  1-10   0-0   0-4  2  5    3
Young           27   2-5   0-0   1-2  1  4    4
West            39  5-14  6-10  1-13  1  2   16
Chalmers        31   3-8  7-10   0-1  0  2   14
Sato            38  8-14   1-2  7-15  3  2   19
Williams        10   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  2    3
Brown            5   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    3
Jackson         19   2-4   0-0   1-2  1  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-57 14-22 10-37  8 18   66
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.404, FT-.636. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Frey 1-4, West 0-1, Chalmers 1-4,
Sato 2-6, Williams 1-1, Brown 1-1). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 8 (West 4, Sato 2,
Young, Jackson). Turnovers: 10 (Frey 3, West 3,
Brown, Chalmers, Jackson, Williams). Steals: 2
(Frey, Young).


DAYTON (59)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hall            26  2-10   2-5   2-6  4  1    6
Waleskowski     27  5-13   0-0   2-6  0  5   10
Finn            10   1-3   2-4   3-7  0  0    4
Marshall        35   1-5   0-0   2-6  2  1    2
Morris          26   4-8   4-4   0-0  3  5   14
Stelly          17   2-6   3-4   1-6  1  2    7
Green           15   0-3   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Jones           14   1-5   1-2   2-4  1  2    3
Holland         30  5-12   3-4   5-8  1  3   13
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-65 15-23 17-43 12 20   59
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.323, FT-.652. 3-Point Goals:
2-12, .167 (Hall 0-4, Marshall 0-3, Morris 2-2,
Stelly 0-1, Jones 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 6 (Finn 3, Hall, Marshall, Stelly).
Turnovers: 9 (Waleskowski 4, Marshall 2, Hall,
Jones). Steals: 8 (Morris 5, Hall, Holland,
Marshall).
__________________________________
Xavier             25   41  -   66
Dayton             22   37  -   59
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,553. Officials:
Larry Lembo, John Moreau, Joe Demayo.

---

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