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03-19-2010, 10:00 PM
Crawford, #6 Xavier ground #11 Gophers, 65-54
by Mike Damone
Despite being the first offensively-dominant Musketeer to grace Victory Parkway since David West, it remained to be seen whether Jordan Crawford would shine on the grand stage of the NCAA Tournament. On Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, the sophomore from Detroit left little doubt, leading all scorers with 28 points, to go with six rebounds and five assists, and helping the #6 seed Musketeers (25-8) to a 65-54 opening round victory over the #11 Minnesota Golden Gophers (21-14).
There would be no bigger indication of his arrival in Xavier postseason lore than Crawford’s final offering.
With the shot clock winding down, and Xavier clinging to a six-point lead with under a minute to go, Crawford gathered a bullet pass from Terrell Holloway (6 pts, 4 ast), let fly and splashed a three to all but seal Xavier’s fourth-straight opening round victory.
The trey was Crawford’s final bucket of the game, which capped a stretch of the contest where he seemingly took over.
Damian Johnson (7 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast) got a layup to go just 1:28 into the second half to give Minnesota its only lead of the half. Crawford responded with a tip-in on his own misfire, giving the Musketeers what would be the lead for good, 31-30.
Crawford boarded the next Golden Gopher miss, and put home an acrobatic scoop shot to extend Xavier’s lead to three. After Minnesota cut it to one, Crawford found Kenny Frease (6 pts, 5 reb) on the baseline for a short jumper, and then later canned a three from the wing to extend Xavier’s lead to six, 40-34, with 15:20 to go.
Three the hard way from Iverson Colton (5 pts, 6 reb, 5 blk) brought the Gophers to within one, but Crawford found Dante Jackson (9 pts, 3 ast) for a three from the wing, then drove through the Minnesota defense for a bucket to extend Xavier’s lead back to six, 45-39.
Crawford capped the 7-0 Xavier run with a short jumper in the lane to give Xavier its largest lead at that point, 47-39, with 12:21 left. Devron Bostick (5 points) responded with a three from the wing to cut the Gophers’ deficit to five, but it was the closest they would get the rest of the way, as Jackson knocked down another three at the other end.
Crawford gave Xavier its largest lead with another triple to put Xavier up, 55-44. Lawrence Westbrook (19 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast) hit a pair of free throws to cut it to nine, but Crawford found a cutting Holloway on the other end for a bucket and foul.
Paul Carter (4 pts, 9 reb) brought Minnesota to within seven with a three, and Westbrook had a chance to cut into Xavier’s advantage further, but he missed a wide open three, and Holloway dropped a pair of free throws on the other end to put Xavier back up nine.
The Gophers still had some life after Johnson’s tip-in cut Xavier’s lead to six with under a minute to go, but with only two seconds left on the shot clock, and 38 seconds to go in the game, Crawford effectively put the opening round contest to bed when Holloway found him in the corner for the clinching three.
The first half was an offensive struggle for Xavier, as the Musketeers shot just 21 percent. Holloway, Jackson, Mark Lyons (2 pts, 3 ast) and Jason Love (7 pts, 8 reb) combining for an 0-for-19 performance from the field. Still, the Musketeers remained in the game, going into the intermission knotted at 26.
A three from Crawford gave Xavier a seven-point lead, 15-8, less than 10 minutes into the game, and capped a 9-0 Xavier run – with eight of those points coming from Crawford.
Minnesota responded with its own 9-0 run to take a 17-15 lead. Westbrook led the charge with seven points, capped by his three that gave Minnesota the lead with under six minutes to go.
A dunk from Jamel McLean (7 pts, 14 reb) gave Xavier a three-point lead, but Westbrook splashed a three 33 seconds before the half to knot the score at the break.
Love started the second half with a bucket and foul off an assist from Crawford to give Xavier a three-point lead, but four quick points from Johnson gave Minnesota its final lead of the game, 30-29.
Crawford led all scorers with 28 points, followed by nine from Jackson and seven apiece from Love and McLean. Westbrook paced his Gopher team with 19 points, followed by seven from Johnson.
Crawford’s 28 were the most by a Musketeer in an NCAA Tournament game since Lionel Chalmers scored 31 in the second round versus Mississippi State in 2004.
Xavier drastically improved off its abysmal first-half performance with 56 percent shooting in the second half, including 50 percent from three. Xavier also out-rebounded the Gophers, 50-41, with McLean pulling in a game-high 14 boards. The Musketeers also dished 15 assists to just six turnovers.
Xavier now advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday for the fourth-consecutive season, looking to exact revenge on the team that bounced the Musketeers from last season’s tourney, the #3 Pittsburgh Panthers. The then-#1 seed Panthers bounced the Musketeers from the Sweet Sixteen last year in a 60-55 thriller in Boston. The Panthers are coming off an 89-66 win over the Oakland Grizzlies on Friday.
by Mike Damone
Despite being the first offensively-dominant Musketeer to grace Victory Parkway since David West, it remained to be seen whether Jordan Crawford would shine on the grand stage of the NCAA Tournament. On Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, the sophomore from Detroit left little doubt, leading all scorers with 28 points, to go with six rebounds and five assists, and helping the #6 seed Musketeers (25-8) to a 65-54 opening round victory over the #11 Minnesota Golden Gophers (21-14).
There would be no bigger indication of his arrival in Xavier postseason lore than Crawford’s final offering.
With the shot clock winding down, and Xavier clinging to a six-point lead with under a minute to go, Crawford gathered a bullet pass from Terrell Holloway (6 pts, 4 ast), let fly and splashed a three to all but seal Xavier’s fourth-straight opening round victory.
The trey was Crawford’s final bucket of the game, which capped a stretch of the contest where he seemingly took over.
Damian Johnson (7 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast) got a layup to go just 1:28 into the second half to give Minnesota its only lead of the half. Crawford responded with a tip-in on his own misfire, giving the Musketeers what would be the lead for good, 31-30.
Crawford boarded the next Golden Gopher miss, and put home an acrobatic scoop shot to extend Xavier’s lead to three. After Minnesota cut it to one, Crawford found Kenny Frease (6 pts, 5 reb) on the baseline for a short jumper, and then later canned a three from the wing to extend Xavier’s lead to six, 40-34, with 15:20 to go.
Three the hard way from Iverson Colton (5 pts, 6 reb, 5 blk) brought the Gophers to within one, but Crawford found Dante Jackson (9 pts, 3 ast) for a three from the wing, then drove through the Minnesota defense for a bucket to extend Xavier’s lead back to six, 45-39.
Crawford capped the 7-0 Xavier run with a short jumper in the lane to give Xavier its largest lead at that point, 47-39, with 12:21 left. Devron Bostick (5 points) responded with a three from the wing to cut the Gophers’ deficit to five, but it was the closest they would get the rest of the way, as Jackson knocked down another three at the other end.
Crawford gave Xavier its largest lead with another triple to put Xavier up, 55-44. Lawrence Westbrook (19 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast) hit a pair of free throws to cut it to nine, but Crawford found a cutting Holloway on the other end for a bucket and foul.
Paul Carter (4 pts, 9 reb) brought Minnesota to within seven with a three, and Westbrook had a chance to cut into Xavier’s advantage further, but he missed a wide open three, and Holloway dropped a pair of free throws on the other end to put Xavier back up nine.
The Gophers still had some life after Johnson’s tip-in cut Xavier’s lead to six with under a minute to go, but with only two seconds left on the shot clock, and 38 seconds to go in the game, Crawford effectively put the opening round contest to bed when Holloway found him in the corner for the clinching three.
The first half was an offensive struggle for Xavier, as the Musketeers shot just 21 percent. Holloway, Jackson, Mark Lyons (2 pts, 3 ast) and Jason Love (7 pts, 8 reb) combining for an 0-for-19 performance from the field. Still, the Musketeers remained in the game, going into the intermission knotted at 26.
A three from Crawford gave Xavier a seven-point lead, 15-8, less than 10 minutes into the game, and capped a 9-0 Xavier run – with eight of those points coming from Crawford.
Minnesota responded with its own 9-0 run to take a 17-15 lead. Westbrook led the charge with seven points, capped by his three that gave Minnesota the lead with under six minutes to go.
A dunk from Jamel McLean (7 pts, 14 reb) gave Xavier a three-point lead, but Westbrook splashed a three 33 seconds before the half to knot the score at the break.
Love started the second half with a bucket and foul off an assist from Crawford to give Xavier a three-point lead, but four quick points from Johnson gave Minnesota its final lead of the game, 30-29.
Crawford led all scorers with 28 points, followed by nine from Jackson and seven apiece from Love and McLean. Westbrook paced his Gopher team with 19 points, followed by seven from Johnson.
Crawford’s 28 were the most by a Musketeer in an NCAA Tournament game since Lionel Chalmers scored 31 in the second round versus Mississippi State in 2004.
Xavier drastically improved off its abysmal first-half performance with 56 percent shooting in the second half, including 50 percent from three. Xavier also out-rebounded the Gophers, 50-41, with McLean pulling in a game-high 14 boards. The Musketeers also dished 15 assists to just six turnovers.
Xavier now advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday for the fourth-consecutive season, looking to exact revenge on the team that bounced the Musketeers from last season’s tourney, the #3 Pittsburgh Panthers. The then-#1 seed Panthers bounced the Musketeers from the Sweet Sixteen last year in a 60-55 thriller in Boston. The Panthers are coming off an 89-66 win over the Oakland Grizzlies on Friday.