ATLANTA – Senior guard Romain Sato’s 27 points led Xavier to its first ever berth in the “Elite Eight” with a 79-71 victory over Texas in first Semifinal of the Atlanta Regional on Friday night in front of 24,533 fans at the Georgia Dome.

“It means a whole lot to see how good we are and for everyone to get a chance to see how good we can be,” senior guard Lionel Calmers said. “When you’ve got guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win, it’s hard to beat them.”

The Musketeers will play top-seeded Duke on Sunday for the right to advance to the Final Four in San Antonio. Sunday’s Regional Final will be televised nationally on CBS and will start at 5:05 p.m.

Xavier (26-10), winners of nine straight and 16 of its last 17 games, has reached the 26-win plateau for the third straight season. The school record for wins is 28 in 1989-90, the only other Musketeer team to reach the Sweet 16. The Longhorns’ season ended with a 25-8 record.

XU joins fellow Atlantic 10 member Saint Joseph’s in the Regional Finals, giving the A-10 two teams in the Final Eight for the first time in conference history.

Sato’s 27 points tie him for the fifth most by a Xavier player in NCAA Tournament history. The senior All-American connected on 5-of-13 shots from the field and 14-of-17 attempts from the free throw line.

Three other Musketeers had double-digit scoring performances. Chalmers tallied 14 points while pulling down a career-high tying seven rebounds and dishing out six assists. Sophomore Dedrick Finn came off the bench to score 11 points while freshman Justin Doellman had 10 points, all in the first half, for Xavier.

After Texas scored the first four points of the game, Xavier was able to close within a point on four different occasions. Doellman was key in keeping the Musketeers close in the first half as he recorded 10 points in the first 15 minutes of the game for his 14th double –figure scoring game of the season.

The Musketeers took their first lead of the contest at 32-30 with 4:30 left in the first half with a three-pointer on a fast break by Chalmers. XU carried the momentum into the locker room with a 44-41 lead at the break.

UT would begin the second half with a surge to knot the game at 50-all at the 15 minute mark, but XU responded with a 7-0 run over the next 2:24. The run began with a three by Sato at 13:10. Chalmers would follow with a fast break layup and a free throw after being fouled. Finally Sato would force a Longhorn timeout with another fast break basket to give XU a 57-50 lead with 12:37 remaining.

Xavier took its lead to as large as 10 at 63-53 with a layup by Myles with 9:42 remaining, but Texas responded with a 7-0 run of its own to close the game to 63-60 at 7:33 before Finn hit his second three-point basket of the day, which gave the Musketeers a 66-60 advantage with 7:15 left.

A pair of layups by UT’s Mouton closed the gap to two points at 66-64 with 5:32 remaining, but the Musketeer free throw shooting would be too much for the Longhorns down the stretch. Xavier made 13 of 16 free throw attempts in the final five minutes to pull out the victory.

Texas would close to within a point at 72-71 after a trey by Brian Boddicker, but a pair of XU free throws gave the Musketeers a 74-71 advantage with 15 seconds remaining. UT’s Sydmill Harris missed a three-point attempt on the next possession and Dedrick Finn was fouled while pulling down the rebound with four seconds left.

After the foul, the UT bench was assessed two technical fouls and Sato converted three of four attempts followed by two makes from Finn to ice the game for Xavier at 79-71.