Dec 9, 2002
Box Score
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
CINCINNATI - The crowd was quiet, the emotion had evaporated, and the lead was almost gone, too.
Facing the prospect of a huge upset, No. 13 Xavier turned up its defense and turned back another southwest Ohio rival on Monday night.
David West scored 18 points despite struggling with his shot, and Xavier pulled out of a second-half lapse just in time to hold on for a 68-58 victory over Miami.
Playing two days after an emotional win over crosstown rival Cincinnati, the Musketeers (5-1) went flat and let a 15-point lead slip to one before finishing strong.
"We didn't respect them," said West, who was only 5-of-13 from the field. "We got up in the first half, and we said we wanted to go hard in the first four minutes (after halftime) and put them away. They just hung around."
After Miami (3-4) cut the lead to 54-53 on Chet Mason's tip-in with 5:11 to play, West made a close-up basket that started a closing 14-5 run.
"We underestimated the way they were going to play," said Lionel Chalmers, who also had 18 for Xavier. "We just have to regroup and get it right."
Miami went cold once the game got close, failing to score on seven straight possessions. Mason led the RedHawks with 19 points, matching his career high.
"I think for a minute in the second half, it got to be a good game," Miami coach Charlie Coles said.
Xavier completed a stretch of three games in seven days. The Musketeers beat Purdue by 15 and won 50-44 on Cincinnati's court before grinding out a victory over another nearby school.
There's a lot less enmity with the latest one.
Xavier's Thad Matta started his collegiate coaching career at Miami and was an assistant to Coles in 1996-97. They shared a warm handshake on the court before the game, and players from both teams shook hands.
When the schools discussed a date for the game, Matta was concerned about playing Miami only two days after facing Cincinnati. They agreed on the date after Coles pointed out that Xavier has West, and Miami has no one who can match up.
West nearly wasn't enough.
The RedHawks used their man-to-man defense and deliberate, shot clock-killing offense to blunt the mismatch and keep it close in the first half. Anthony Myles scored six points during a 14-0 run that put the Musketeers up by 10.
West, who scored 23 points against Cincinnati, missed four of his first six shots. He began to assert himself near the end of the half, making a three-point play and a pair of free throws as Xavier went up 35-22.
Miami's strategy was to shove West around and keep him from getting an open pass or an easy shot. The rough-and-tumble defense sent Xavier to the free-throw line 30 times, and the Musketeers made 23.
"We were at a disadvantage with David," Coles said. "What were we going to do? This guy's good. We wanted to say, 'You've got to work for everything, David,' and he did. We had a chance tonight."
West opened the second half with a pair of free throws that pushed the lead to 15 points, the biggest of the game. Miami then clamped down on West with two defenders whenever he touched the ball, and the RedHawks made a game of it.
Miami went on a 10-1 spurt to get the lead down to one point. A capacity crowd of 10,250 that was quiet for most of the game got loud once Miami got within a basket of the lead, and Xavier's man-to-man defense got re-energized.
"We played hard against Cincinnati, but tonight we took some possessions off," Matta said. "That's something we can't afford to do."
