— XAVIER 80, INDIANA 65—
Hoosier daddies
Musketeers clamp down on defense, knock off #8 Indiana
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
iuhoosiers.com
Junior guard C.J. Anderson stifles the shot of Indiana’s Jordan Crawford. The Musketeer’s defense held Indiana to just 65 points and 38.5 percent shooting from the field, their worst stats all year.
In his biggest test against the best competition he’s faced this season, senior guard Stanley Burrell clamped down with vice-like pressure on defense in leading the Xavier men’s basketball team to an 80-65 trouncing of eighth ranked Indiana last Saturday night to win the Chicago Invitational Challenge.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a player than I am of Stan tonight,” said head coach Sean Miller.
“To see the transformation in him, in his last year, [for Burrell] to be able to do that defensively means the world to our team,” he said.
Burrell’s defense, which has improved by leaps and bounds since last season, was all the more impressive when considering his assignment.
Indiana’s star freshman and point machine Eric Gordon had averaged 28.8 points per game this season.
Burrell held him to 20 points, the second time he’s scored fewer than 30 all year.
Junior guard C.J. Anderson and classmate B.J. Raymond each added 19 points to lead a balanced Musketeer scoring attack that featured four players in double figures.
Raymond also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
“B.J. Raymond is really off to a great start,” said Miller. “ I knew he was a better player, just by watching him in practice. It’s great to see him be able to do it in a game.”
“I think he adds even more balance than we originally thought we had,” he said.
Anderson was named the tournament co-MVP for his play against IU and in Xavier’s 98-49 double-up of Coppin State in which he had 20 points.
He shared the honor with senior point guard Drew Lavender, who averaged 11.8 points and 4.8 assists in the four games of the tournament.
Lavender was personally invested in the Indiana game, playing against former coach Kelvin Sampson for the first time.
Lavender played for Sampson for his freshman season at Oklahoma, before Lavender transferred to Xavier and Sampson left the Sooners for the Hoosiers.
Lavender gave fits to his old coach, diving in and out of the Hoosier defense at will en route to 13 points and six assists.
Xavier passed the ball brilliantly, seeming to always find an open man, and in defending the Hoosiers so well, were able to demonstrate that Miller’s brand of high-speed transition offense is capable of knocking off the country’s best teams.
Fittingly, Xavier cracked both major national polls, earning a ranking of 25th in the USA Today/ ESPN Poll and 23rd in the Associated Press Poll, marking the 12th straight season in which the Musketeers have been ranked.
As is the case with many teams, Xavier’s recent stays in the national rankings have been short lived.
“Being ranked in the top 25 is exciting for our team, but we’ve been ranked in the top 25 last year and the year before for about a total of 48 hours,” said Miller.
“It’s nice to be thought of in those terms, but it’s a whole different thing being the team that stays there,” he said.
Xavier will have plenty of chances to prove that they can stay in the top 25 with an upcoming month of tough nonconference games.
This week Xavier hosts the Oakland Grizzlies at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28, and then the Belmont Bruins at 7 p.m. on Sat., Dec. 1.
Muskies stumble in host tournament
T’Shia Phillips sets new rebound record, earns multiple honors after strong weekend
Doug Tifft
Associate Sports Editor
goxavier.com
Freshman point guard Special Jennings is off to a promising start to her career at Xavier as she came off the bench to lead the team with four assists against Houston.
A pair of runs given up in the second half cost the Xavier women’s basketball team a 61-56 loss to Liberty in the championship game of the National City XU Invitational on Sunday at Cintas Center.
The Musketeers led by nine at halftime, and held that lead until midway through the second half when the Lady Flames mounted an 11-3 run to cut the lead to one.
MVP Megan Frazee scored 10 of her 28 points in a late 14-2 run that put Liberty up for good.
Her sister and fellow all-tournament performer Moriah Frazee chipped in with nine points and five rebounds.
Sophomore forward Amber Harris did her part in the defeat, chipping in 20 points and six blocks.
She was followed closely by junior Jerri Taylor who had 18 points and three assists.
However it was freshman T’shia Phillips who was the lone Musketeer on the All-Tournament team after she averaged 16.3 points and 16 rebounds for the tournament.
The Atlantic 10 also honored Phillips by naming her the Conference freshman of the week for the second straight time.
It marked the fifth straight week that a Musketeer was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week after Amber Harris received the honor for the final three weeks of last season.
The A-10 leading rebounder is averaging 14 points and 13.2 rebounds per game along with shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
Phillips led the way in a first round 69-47 win over Houston with 16 points and 18 rebounds.
Amber Harris was another of the four Musketeers in double figures as she contributed her 13th career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Freshman point guard Special Jennings led the team in assists with four while only turning the ball over twice in 25 minutes of action.
The Musketeers rode a 54-39 rebounding advantage as they parlayed a nine point halftime lead into a victory.
Phillips had her best game of the tournament in the second round against McNeese State.
She scored 26 points and set a new Xavier single game record by hauling in 20 rebounds as the Musketeers cruised to a 97-60 win.
Taylor set a career high with 27 points on nine of 12 shooting from long range.
Sophomore Maureen Hester reached double figures for the second straight night as she was perfect from the field and the free throw line on her way to 12 points.
It was a career night for many players as sophomore Alesia Barringer notched seven assists and freshman Megan Askew grabbed nine rebounds.
Led by Phillips, Xavier again established dominance on the glass with a 60-24 rebounding advantage.
The Muskies now stand at 4-2 on the season and look forward to a home test on Saturday against crosstown rival Cincinnati.
The Slipper fits: Xavier volleyball dancing
Despite loss in A-10s, Musketeers receive at-large bid to NCAA Tournament
Paul Moeller
Associate Sports Editor
goxavier.com
A-10 Player of the year Jill Quayle (left) leads Xavier to its second NCAA volleyball tournament in school history along with Jenni Horvath and Jenn Welsh (right).
On Sunday, the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee selected the field of teams for the 2007 Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Despite losing in the finals of the Atlantic 10 tournament, Xavier’s volleyball team received an at-large bid to the tournament, the squad’s first bid since 2001.
This is only the second time in program history that the volleyball team has had a bid to the national tournament.
While 31 conferences receive an automatic bid, 33 teams are selected at-large. In 2001, Xavier won the conference tournament over Temple to receive an automatic bid.
The Musketeers, led by senior Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Jill Quayle and Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Floyd Deaton, will face 16th-ranked Cal Poly at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30.
The match will be the second meeting of the two teams this year, the first of which was won by Xavier when the Cal Poly Mustangs were ranked 14th in the country.
Leading up to the news of the tournament bid, the team had an incredible week, to say the very least. For most students, the weekend and two days of class leading up to Thanksgiving break are full of excitement for seeing the family and over-eating traditional Thanksgiving cuisine.
But for the XU netters, the week was a little different.
On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Muskies took on Saint Louis in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
After dropping the first two games, the Musketeers bounced back and won the next three, defeating last year’s A-10 champion by scores of 24-30, 32-34, 30-26, 30-23, 15-7.
The Musketeers advanced to the finals of the tournament to face the rival and 16th-ranked Dayton Flyers for the third time this season.
Despite Xavier’s best efforts, the Flyers proved to be too strong, defeating the Xavier squad in three games.
Even with the loss, senior Jenni Horvath and sophomore Hillary Otte were named to the All-Tournament team for the Championship.
Immediately after Thanksgiving, the team was back in action as they headed up to Oxford, Ohio, for the A-10/MAC Challenge hosted by Miami University.
Despite stellar double-double performances from freshman Chelsea Campbell and sophomore Kelly Ruth, the Musketeers fell to the RedHawks in three games.
Quickly looking to turn things around, the Muskies took on the Western Michigan Broncos the following day, Saturday, Nov 24. After winning game one and dropping games two and three, Xavier shifted into high gear and came from behind to win by scores of 30-18, 24-30, 20-30, 30-27, 15-7.
Xavier’s record currently sits at 24-10 and they are in the Stanford, Cal. Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
In defense of the homerun king
Tyler Grote
Staff Writer
If you are one of the millions of people who boo the man, label him a cheater or are screaming for an asterisk, shame on you.
Barry Bonds, the man who broke quite possibly the greatest record in sports, is not the hero that Hank Aaron was made to be. Rather, he has been made a black sheep in the world of sports and the poster boy for what will be known as the infamous Steroid Era in Major League Baseball.
My question is why?
Why do we, as a nation, despise the man who did the unthinkable and caught up to Hammerin’ Hank?
Oh, that’s right, because we assume that he took performance enhancing supplements that somehow gave him the magic power to hit 762 homeruns. Please.
If memory serves us correctly, many more names have been linked to steroids, names like Jason Giambi, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro.
Yet, Americans want to make the all-time homerun leader their scapegoat.
Why? Because he said he didn’t do it? Or because he comes off as arrogant solely because he won’t tolerate the ridiculous questions and accusations made by the press?
Mark McGuire broke the single season homerun record and didn’t admit to taking anything.
Sammy Sosa nearly did it and never admitted to taking steroids.
Rafael Palmeiro, after pointing to the camera and telling the nation that he didn’t take steroids, was later found to be officially linked to steroids. But we choose to focus on Barry Bonds.
Facts are facts; Barry Bonds is a seven-time MVP, holds the record for all-time career walks and intentional walks, is an eight-time gold-glover and has made the All Star Game 14 times. And we are to say he did all this because of steroids? Hear me loud and clear: Even if Barry did take something, the Mitchell reports will be producing hundreds more of our favorite athletes that will have tested positive for some type of steroid.
If baseball decides to revoke any awards or feats obtained by Bonds, then they would be wise to erase every stat earned by any player who was officially linked to steroids. Sounds a bit ridiculous doesn’t it? My point exactly.
Give the man his due and let him have his day in court.
It’s more important to realize that this was a negative era for all of Major League Baseball that ran its course than to crucify one man for the mistakes of hundreds of others.
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Club hockey puts up strong effort
The Xavier club hockey team fell to traditional hockey power Canisius College 8-4 on Nov. 17 at Cincinnati Gardens. The loss was the first at home for the Musketeers, who are off to their best start in the club’s history at 4-2. Matt Waskerwitz scored four times to lead the Musketeers.
David Yunez led the defense that helped to turn away over 60 Golden Griffin shots. The team will take on Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday at Cincinnati Gardens.
Athletes get active in community
goxavier.com
Junior Clinton Womack
On Friday, Nov. 16, a small group of Xavier student athletes visited Winton Hills Academy Elementary to play with children in the local community. The event was organized by the Student Athlete Activity Council (SAAC) as part of their efforts to reach out to the local community.
The idea is to make the event a regular occurrence for Musketeer student athletes. The students and players interacted with the kids by playing board games and watching movies. Students were able to ask the athletes about what they do for their respective teams.
The Xavier athletes shared advice on how the youngsters could work their way up to the collegiate level someday. Juniors Becky Clark and Clinton Womack represented the cross-country team at the event. Fellow sophomore Mark Febus visited from the men’s swim team.\
Correction
In the Nov. 14 issue of the Newswire, an article contained an error in the reporting of the men’s basketball team’s loss to Miami (OH). Sophomore Jason Love was charged with fouling Miami’s Michael Bramos in the game’s closing seconds.
