Xavier University Athletics
Xavier vs. Massachusetts Game Notes
01.31.09 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2009
Recap |
Box Score |
Quotes |
Photo Gallery 
No. 10 Xavier (19-2, 7-0 Atlantic 10) won its season-best 10th straight game by defeating UMass (7-12, 2-4 A-10) in exciting fashion, 82-80. With XU trailing 74-73 after a tip-in by UMass's Luke Bonner at 2:21, B.J. Raymond buried a three-pointer with 2:10 remaining to give the Musketeers a lead they never relinquished. After a C.J. Anderson layup gave XU a four-point lead, 78-74, Ricky Harris hit a three-pointer to pull UMass to within one point, 78-77, with 47 seconds remaining. Raymond and Derrick Brown each buried a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds to finish the game. Brown scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Musketeers, while B.J. Raymond added 22 points and C.J. Anderson 19 points. Brown collected eight rebounds and Anderson dished out four assists. UMass was led by Ricky Harris with 17 points. Chris Lowe scored 16, Luke Bonner 14, and Anthony Gurley 10. Tony Gaffney collected 14 rebounds and Lowe had seven assists.
Xavier is now 116-17 (.872) overall during its nine seasons at Cintas Center, and 58-10 (.853) against Atlantic 10 competition in its on-campus home arena. The Musketeers have won 20 straight conference games at home (8-0, 2006-07; 8-0, 2007-08; and 4-0, 2008-09).
Xavier shot a season-best 59.6 percent (31-for-52) from the field today, eclipsing the previous high of 54.2 percent (32-for-59) that it shot at St. Bonaventure (1-21-09).
Xavier had a season-best performance from the free throw line, connecting on 85.7 percent (12-for-14) of its chances from the charity stripe. During the past four games, XU has converted 76.3 percent (58-for-76) of its free throws.
The Musketeers committed a season-high 23 turnovers. The previous high was 22, which occurred on three other occasions.
B.J. Raymond continued his hot scoring streak, netting 22 points in today's game. Raymond has now scored 20-plus points in the last three games, averaging 22.0 ppg. During the three-game stretch he is shooting 67.7 percent (21-for-31) from the field, 63.2 percent (12-for-19) from behind the 3-point arc, and 80.0 percent (12-for-15) from the free throw line.
Career/Season Highs
Derrick Brown tied his career high in scoring with 23 points. He also scored 23 against Miami (11-29-08). He also matched his career high with four blocked shots. He also had four blocks against Richmond (3-8-08).
Runs
Trailing 27-25 at 7:53 of the first half, XU went on 9-0 run to take a 34-27 lead at 5:47. Derrick Brown scored 7 points during the spurt.
Up Next: Xavier completes the three-game homestand as the Temple Owls visit Cintas Center on Thursday, February 5, at 7:00 p.m. Temple leads the all-time series 10-8. Last season, Temple halted XU's six game winning streak by defeating the visiting Musketeers, 78-59. In that game, Temple held a 50-48 lead at the under-12-minute media timeout, but then went on a 10-0 run during the next three minutes to extend the lead to 60-48 and essentially put the game away. Dionte Christmas led all scorers with 23 points, while Mark Tyndale added 22. For XU, Derrick Brown scored 14 points, Jason Love chipped in 13 points and Drew Lavender added 11 points.
