A10: Xavier Advances To Semis
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Keyed by threes from Stanley Burrell and Josh Duncan, Xavier used a quick 14-4 run midway through the second half to erase a 2-point Dayton lead. The Flyers never really threatened after that, and Xavier advanced to the Atlantic 10 semifinals with a 74-65 victory.
The Flyers' Marcus Johnson, who scored 26 points, hit a three from the corner with 1:12 left that cut the lead to 7, but Dayton only cut the lead a point by the 30-second mark. Xavier hit 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to ice it.
X put 5 players in double figures: Josh Duncan with 16, C.J. Anderson 15, Stanley Burrell 13, Drew Lavender 12 and Derrick Brown 11. More stats and such to follow.
Xavier improved to 27-5; coach Sean Miller has just begun his press conference about Stanley Burrell's comments. Clearly, he's a college kid who was just angry about nobody on his team making the first team, but apparently people were angry at him calling the league "pathetic." Ooh, it's the first two questions of the press conference, too!
Xavier is now 21-8 all time in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and is making its seventh straight appearance in the A-10 semifinals. Burrell had 13 points in 38 minutes of work; he said the mid-second half run was just about staying poised and is a difference from last season's team. Drew Lavender played 32 minutes on a hurt ankle and scored 12.
Marcus Johnson, a 6-3 sophomore from Cleveland, scored 26 points for Dayton. Half of them came on 13-of-16 free throw shooting. Brian Roberts, whose injury was a major factor in the Flyers' late-season slide, had 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting but was only 1-of-7 on threes.
