March 12, 2010

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The No. 24 ranked and No. 2 seed Xavier men's basketball team extended its win streak to eight games as the Musketeers fought back from a 15 point deficit to defeat Dayton 78-73 Friday night. With the win, the Musketeers advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament where they will face Richmond on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS College Sports national network and 55KRC-AM.

Xavier has now reached at least the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship for nine straight years. XU has reached at least the semifinals 11 times in 15 years as an Atlantic 10 Conference member.

This was a hard-fought win. Xavier had to rally from a 15-point second-half deficit to secure the win over Dayton. The largest deficit Xavier had previously overcome this season was an 11-point deficit at George Washington with 9:31 left in the game on Jan. 10 in a 76-69 XU win.

With the win, the Musketeers improve to 24-7 overall while the Flyers fall to 20-12. Xavier was led in scoring by sophomore guard Terrell Holloway with 22 points on 6-of-14 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Free throws proved crucial for the Musketeers as they shot 80.5 percent as a team from the charity stripe.

Dayton was led by Marcus Johnson with18 points. Xavier won the battle of the boards with 39 rebounds to the Flyers' 28.

The Flyers took at 15 point lead, 59-44, with 11:18 left to play when Marcus Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the wing. That would be the Flyers last field goal until the 1:10 mark in the second half.

Solid free throw shooting and a Dayton field goal drought brought the Musketeers back into the game. Terrell Holloway cut the UD lead to six, 61-55, with 7:44 left in the game when he hit the second of two free throws.

Xavier fought to within five when Jamel McLean hit the first of two foul shots to cut the UD lead to 60-65 with 4:54 left in the game. Jason Love's hook shot at the 4:19 mark put the score at 65-62 in favor of Dayton.

It was at the 3:40 mark that the Musketeers really began to fight. McLean saved an offensive rebound and coach Chris Mack called a timeout that set up a Holloway bank shot at the 3:30 mark that cut the deficit to one.

Jordan Crawford tied the score at 66 with a drive and finger roll with 2:38 left in the game. Holloway gave XU its first lead since early in the first half on a three-point play. Holloway broke through the UD defense for a layup and hit a free throw that gave Xavier the 69-66 lead.

Holloway extended the Musketeer lead to 72-68 with 33.6 seconds left to play when he hit two technical free throws.

Xavier struck first when McLean found Love under the basket for a dunk at the 18:47 mark in the first half. Crawford followed with a jumper to give XU a 4-2 lead with 17:51 left in the first frame.

Dayton quickly rebounded with a 7-2 run of their own that gave the Flyers a 13-8 lead at the 14:31 mark. The Flyers led by as many as nine points twice during the first half but the Musketeers kept it close despite only hitting 1-of-8 from behind the 3-point line.

Jason Love led XU in scoring in the first half with 11 points on 2-of-5 from the field to go along with a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Rob Lowery led all scorers in the first frame with 12 points on 4-of-5 from the field.