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CINCINNATI - When Steven Wright drained a long 3-pointer to give Northern Kentucky University a 25-16 lead over Xavier late in the first half Monday night, the partisan Musketeer crowd of 7,152 in the Cintas Center became eerily silent. Most of those in attendance expected to see Xavier roll over the visiting Norse. Instead, NKU held a nine-point lead over the defending Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament champions after Wright's long-range trey, and the Norse would take a 25-22 advantage to the locker room at halftime. That's when Stanley Burrell decided to step up and carry Xavier. And did he ever. Burrell scored 16 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, including nine straight during a pivotal stretch, as Xavier rallied to hold off NKU, 58-44. The junior guard sparked a 20-4 second-half run and hit a trio of 3-pointers as the Musketeers survived a major scare from the Norse. "Xavier is a really good team, but we did a nice job of running our offense and competed really hard," NKU head coach Dave Bezold said. "If we make some shots in the second half, and we did get good looks, this game would have really been interesting at the end." NKU shot 25 percent from the field in the second half and missed all 12 of its 3-point attempts after intermission. The Norse finished 3-for-23 from 3-point range for the game. "Someone has to step up and make shots for us, but we had great effort and I was pleased with how we played," Bezold said. Freshman guard Adrion Graves came off the bench and added 10 points for Xavier, which shot 48.1 percent from the field in the second half and making just 25 percent of its attempts before halftime. Justin Doellman and Justin Cage each scored eight points for the Musketeers, the preseason favorite to repeat as Atlantic 10 Conference champions.
NKU, which had suffered a 46-point loss to Cincinnati last Wednesday, battled Xavier for the entire 40 minutes Monday night before succumbing in the end. David Jefferson scored 10 points in the first 12 minutes as NKU built a 17-10 lead. The 6-foot-7 freshman was 5-for-6 from the field in the opening 20 minutes and finished with 14 points. "You have to account for David for every possession on the boards if you are the other team," Bezold said. "David had a great day of practice yesterday, and he really responded in this game. He played within himself, didn't try to do too much and did a great job." NKU center James Cripe also battled effectively and finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a steal before fouling out. The 7-foot senior was 5-for-8 from the field and impressed Bezold with his performance. "We have to find more ways of getting James the ball. Xavier did a great job of doubling down on him, but he competed very hard and was a factor inside all night," Bezold said. Wright finished with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds for NKU, which lost by 34 points to Xavier last season in the Cintas Center. The Norse attempted just eight free throws the entire game, while Xavier was 16-for-26 from the charity stripe. Derrick Brown came off the bench and grabbed eight rebounds for Xavier. Cage blocked three shots for the Musketeers, who finished with eight rejections as a team. NKU begins the regular season at 7:45 p.m. Nov. 17 against Ferris State in the John L. Griffin/Lions Club Classic in Regents Hall. Ferris State advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament last season and is expected to challenge for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship this season. The next night, NKU will meet Wayne (Mich.) State at 7:45 p.m. in the final game of the John L. Griffin/Lions Club Classic. NKU is the preseason favorite to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division title. |
