Young Musketeers get learning experience
Inexperienced backcourt, injuries, poor free throw shooting lead to scare in exhibition
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Erika Bresee
Freshman point guard Terrell Holloway scored six points and dished out four assists, but also committed five turnovers and shot 2-6 at the free throw line on Friday against Findlay University.
With a plethora of young players on the roster, the early season was bound to be a learning experience for Sean Miller and the Xavier men’s basketball team.
That is precisely what Miller and his team got on Friday night in a 79-76 victory over Findlay University, a Division II power.
The youngest position on the roster for the Musketeers is the point guard spot, where Miller relied on sophomore Dante Jackson, along with freshmen Terrell Holloway and Brad Redford. The trio combined for 10 of the team’s 28 turnovers on the night, a statistic that — along with 52 percent free throw shooting by the Musketeers — helped diminish a 14 point lead with 14:42 remaining into a nail-biting three point victory.
Despite the ineffective play from his backcourt, Miller remained optimistic about the prospects of the group.
“[Point guard] is an inexperienced position for us. To judge them in their first exhibition game would not be fair to them. They will be better a week from today, and as the season progresses that position will become more stable,” Miller said. “We were in situations at the end of the game against pressure, where it was the first time that this team has really faced that, and it showed.”
The ineffectiveness of the backcourt played a large part as Xavier produced 13 turnovers in the final 6:44 of the game, which helped squander Xavier’s lead. Senior wing B.J. Raymond was upset with his team for committing the late game errors.
“When the tough got going, we did not get going,” Raymond said. “Down the stretch we got out-toughed, and that is something that we don’t do here at Xavier. We pride ourselves on our toughness and tonight it did not show. That is something that we will change.”
Part of Xavier’s problem down the stretch was the loss of some key components.
Junior forward Derrick Brown — who prior to the game was named to the watch list for the John R. Wooden Award, an award given to the nation’s top player, for which Xavier point guard Drew Lavender also recieved a nomination last season — went to the bench with 8:45 remaining with a sprained ankle, one that is being treated and may keep him to limited action for the first few games of the season.
Along with Brown, senior C.J. Anderson had to leave the game with cramps, and Jackson, the starting point guard, fouled out of the game with 2:06 remaining.
“We had C.J. with cramps, Derrick out, Dante fouled out; it was the ultimate situation to test our team,” Miller said. “We had players in different roles, with a lot of pressure on them, and that can do nothing but help us. All of the practicing in the world can’t make a team better than the experience that we went through tonight… and we are still 0-0.”
Another part of the problem for Xavier was simply the quality of their opponent. Findlay came in as the top ranked team in Division II, and featured the Preseason Division II Player of the Year in 6’4” wing Josh Bostic, who lived up to the hype with 23 points — 22 of which came after halftime.
“I give Findlay a lot of credit. They are a veteran team that is in the hunt to win the Division II National Championship,” Miller said. “Their wing player, Bostic, was undoubtedly the best player on the court. I would put him in the category of no matter who we face the rest of the season, we are not going to face that many wing players that are tougher to guard than him. He is a really, really good player.”
With the scare behind them, Xavier now prepares to open the season against Indiana University-Purdue University of Fort Wayne on Friday, Nov. 14 at Cintas Center. Many changes will have to be made to correct the mistakes that were made against Findlay, and one of them will be to put 7’0” center Kenny Frease on the floor more frequently.
“I thought that Kenny was the most impressive out of our newcomers. He will play more,” Miller said. “You can see how physically strong he is close to the basket, and he is going to be an impact player for us. We will be more organized, and give him a better opportunity from this point on.”
With Frease seeing a more prominent role in the frontcourt, and upperclassmen Brown, Anderson, Raymond and Jason Love leading the team, there is an expectation that this Musketeer team will stabilize quickly from their exhibition woes.
Still, Miller will have to find a way to expatiate the learning curve of his young backcourt, or else Friday night will not be the only time that Xavier fans experience unexpectedly heart-pounding endings this season.
Mens' soccer finishes on high note
Ken Burton
Sports Writer
After a rough and tumble year, full of the growing pains and adversity that are to be expected of a young squad, the Xavier men’s soccer team brought their season to a close on Friday night.
While the current team will be looking ahead to next season, for Xavier seniors it’s a time to reflect.
Friday’s matchup with Dayton marked the last time Tommy Clines, Jimmy Cummings, Joe Diederich, Michael Scholten and Adam Sokolowski donned the Xavier blue.
The Musketeers, in front of a season high 423 raucous fans, rallied together to send its seniors off in grand fashion.
Senior keeper Sokolowski staved off numerous first half Flyer offensive attacks to preserve a scoreless tie at the break, and junior Jake Vollmer netted the game winning goal just over three minutes into the second half.
The Flyers, who were vying for the top spot in the A-10 tournament with only
one conference loss, sensed defeat and an offensive onslaught ensued.
The Flyers would record 14 shots in the second half of the match, as many as
the Musketeers had the entire game.
It was Sokolowski though that came through, recording seven saves on his way to recording the Musketeer’s third shutout win of the season.
With the win, Xavier improved to 3-12-3 overall and a 2-5-2 in the Atlantic 10. The story of this Musketeer team cannot be told numerically, however.
The Musketeers kicked off with two preseason wins and looked to be on the right track.
But, as the season progressed the young team struggled mightily with one of the nation’s toughest non-conference schedules. It wasn’t until Oct. 4, halfway through the season, that the Musketeers found their first win.
With personnel changes in net and the desire to find cohesiveness amongst his talented, yet young, squad, coach Dave Schureck was in search of his team’s identity the entire year.
The team began to see the benefits of the lineup changes and a tough non-conference schedule when conference play began.
The team recorded two wins and two ties in that short span —more wins and ties than they had the entire first half of the season. While it took some time, as most expected with such a young team, the Musketeers finally found their stride by beating Dayton on Friday.
While the five seniors will surely be missed, the promise of next year should leave all Musketeer fans pleased.
Tough start for women
Ken Burton
Sports Writer
The Xavier University women’s basketball took a hit to their lofty expectations on Nov. 4 with a 75-67 loss to the Ohio aGirl’s Basketball Report (OGBR) Legends.
Head Coach Kevin McGuff and his nationally recognized Musketeers knew things would be much tougher when star junior forward Amber Harris went down with a potentially season-ending knee injury in the first week of practice.
Just how tough things would be was unknown until last week’s exhibition matchup with the Legends.
The Musketeers, picked to win the Atlantic 10 and ranked as a top 16 team by USA Today before Harris’ injury, struggled against OGBR in their first test without Harris.
Ta’Shia Phillips shouldered much of the load for the Musketeers, scoring 20 points and grabbing an eye-opening 18 rebounds.
The double-double was nothing new for Phillips, after she led the team with 18 such games a season ago.
Seniors Tudy Reed and Jerri Taylor, the senior leaders on this Musketeer squad, did their part with 15 and 14 points respectively.
Junior Dee Dee Jernigan, a newcomer to this Muskie squad after transferring from Rutgers University following their NCAA Runner-Up season in 2006-07, also registered double-digits, pouring in 11 points.
Sophomore guard Special Jennings also added five assists and a steal on the night.
Despite the well-balanced scoring attack, the home team just couldn’t do enough to hold off the Legends in the end.
Before jumping off the bandwagon, fans are urged to consider these few points:
The OGBR Legends are a group of former college stars—four of whom have played in the WNBA—that assemble to play in exhibition games against division one opponents.
While Legends have been at full strength, playing top-caliber teams for weeks, this was Xavier’s first test of the season and more importantly, one that doesn’t count.
The scoring attack is a balanced one, and Taylor has continued her dead-eye shooting from behind the arc, hitting four of seven threes last week.
Already a standout in the A-10 as an injured freshman last year, Phillips is now healthy and already dishing out plenty of points in her sophomore campaign.
In addition, Phillips was also recently honored by being selected as one of only 30 college players on the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List. Of those, one player will be chosen at the end of the season to receive the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball, the Wooden Award.
While the Musketeers will need to improve their defense in time for the regular season after allowing 50 percent shooting from both the field and beyond the arc, they still look poised to successfully power through a challenging schedule this season.
Last week’s matchup with the OGBR Legends was the only exhibition for the Musketeers. Xavier will open its regular season at home on Friday, Nov. 14 against Robert Morris at 2 p.m. as part of the Preseason WNIT.
XU adds second forward for 2010
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
The Xavier University men’s basketball program took another step in solidifying its talent level on Nov. 4 when the program received a verbal commitment from three-star high school junior J.D. Weatherspoon.
Weatherspoon, a 6’6” forward attending Columbus’ Northland High School, is the second recruit in the 2010 class to give Xavier a verbal commitment after Maryland power forward Jordan Latham gave Xavier his word only two days earlier.
J.D. Weatherspoon
Strengths:
Athleticsm that allows him to put on dunking exhibitions, as well as guard
multiple positions defensively.
Weaknesses:
Shooting range does not extend beyond the key, ball handling is limited, undersized
for a power forward in height and muscle.
With Weatherspoon, Xavier gets one of the most athletic players out of the state of Ohio since Derrick Brown in 2005.
Weatherspoon’s offensive game is rather unpolished however, as he relies greatly on his supreme athletic talents to score around the rim. This also compensates for a lack of solid ball handling and ineffective outside shooting.
Weatherspoon’s athletic quickness allows him to be versatile on defense, effectively guarding both small forwards and power forwards.
As a younger player — a 15-year-old-junior — Weatherspoon is accustomed to playing the post in games with younger competition, and may be able to stay on the block if he grows another few inches before getting to campus in 2010.
If he does not, then Xavier will likely be receiving an athletic, yet undersized, power forward with the potential to be an NBA prospect if he develops perimeter skills.
Either way, the signing of Weatherspoon is a significant move for Xavier, as they secure the services of one of Ohio’s top players in a year where the state, particularly southwestern Ohio, is loaded with talent.
The Musketeers had been disappointed when they missed out on commitments from five-star shooting guard Jordan Sibbert, a junior at Cincinnati’s Princeton High School who will attend Ohio State, four star point guard Juwann Staten, a junior at Dayton’s Thurgood Marshall High School who will stay home to play for the Flyers, and seemed to have dropped behind other big-time programs for five-star center Adreian Payne, a junior at Dayton’s Jefferson High School.
Adding Weatherspoon to Latham keeps Xavier as a viable recruiting presence in the state of Ohio, as well as ensuring that Xavier will have the talent to continue their recent run of NCAA success.
McKenna rewriting the record books
Tyler Grote
Sports Writer
The women’s golf team received a nice break from the rain and 45 degree weather that Cincinnati has recently been blessed with when they had the opportunity to travel to California to compete in the Lamkin Cup/ Cal Poly Women’s Invitational on Nov. 3-4.
Mary Beth McKenna took center stage as she won the individual title at the Cypress Ridge Country Club in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
How she did it was even more impressive.
McKenna shot one-under-par with a total score of 143, winning the invitational by three strokes at the par-72 event.
Her score put her ahead of Jennifer Bermingham of California Riverside, the 2006 and 2007 winner, and Cristina Corpus of San Jose State.
McKenna’s medal-winning performance marks the first medalist honor since former Musketeer Jill Stein, who won the Butler Spring Invitational in 2003.
McKenna opened the tournament with a score of 69, which accounts for the best 18-hole score in Xavier history.
She joins the ranks of former Musketeers and teammates, Kathleen Hardy (’05), Abby Fowler (’03), and current Xavier senior Lindsay Cornell, who all share the score of 69.
There were 18 schools that competed in this two day event, and McKenna’s outstanding performance led Xavier just over Portland University to land a tie for ninth place with Drake University.
Her achievement did not go unnoticed; McKenna was named the Colonial Athletic Association Performer of the Week, an award that has not been held by a Musketeer since Sarah Sparks won it in March of 2004 following a fifth place finish in the Northern Illinois University Springlake Classic.
The Musketeers provided a stellar performance, but the day belonged to San Jose State, who ran away with the invitational as they finished with a total score of 598, leaving second place Sacramento State in the dust. They finished twelve strokes behind with a final score of 610.
It’s been a rough year for the Musketeers as 7th place becomes the best they’ll finish this fall, when McKenna again led the Musketeers in the UC Fall Classic with a low-round score of 76, tying with teammate Audrey Fellmeth.
The women will not see action again until 2009, when they are scheduled to compete in the Red Rocks Invitational held in Sedona, Ariz. on Feb. 28.
Swimmers strong at EMU
Scott Mueller
Asst. Sports Editor
The Xavier University swim team competed against Eastern Michigan and Akron on Saturday at Eastern Michigan University.
Sophomore Nathan Greene turned in a strong performance, winning both the 200 and 500 Free events. Greene was also part of the second place 400 Medley Relay team with senior Matt Marcus, and sophomores Terence Mahon and John Roof.
Sophomore John Nolan touched the wall first in the 100 Fly and was part of the 400 Free Relay that finished first. The team consisted of all sophomores, including Nolan, Andrew Viglione, Andy Knight and Michael Franke.
For the women, sophomore Kari Peglar finished in the top three in the 200, 500 and 1000 Free.
The 400 Free Relay team of Peglar, juniors Elaina Suba and Alison Johnson and sophomore Bethanie Griffin finished third.
The Musketeers’ next meet will be Nov. 14-15 in Indianapolis, when they take on host Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Saint Louis University and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
