March 26, 2009

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BOSTON - The No. 4 seeded Xavier men's basketball team's upset bid came up just short as the Musketeers fell to top-seeded Pitt, 60-55, Thursday night in TD Banknorth Garden in the 2009 NCAA Tournament East Regional Semifinal. Xavier ends the season with a 27-8 record after advancing to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.

Senior B.J. Raymond led the Musketeers with 15 points followed by junior Derrick Brown with 14. Brown led XU in rebounds with nine.

Two late baskets by Pitt's Levance Fields erased a 54-52 Xavier lead to give the Panthers the 57-54 advantage with only 23.9 showing on the clock and Pitt held on to take the five-point victory.

The Panthers opened the second half with an 8-0 run, erasing the Musketeer lead and the two teams went into the first media break knotted at 37 each. Pitt took a one-point lead Xavier finally got on the board with 13:39 left in the contest as Brown broke the scoring drought with a jumper.

The Musketeers were down by four, 16-12, with 11:39 remaining in the first half before going on an 11-3 run sparked by a Raymond jumper. During the run, Frease, Brown and McLean put together a highlight reel with three consecutive dunks and Raymond had five of the 11 scored. Xavier took its largest lead of the game into the break, leading by eight, 37-29.

Pitt's Sam Young led all scorers with 19 and DeJuan Blair posted a double-double with 10 points and 17 boards.