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March 20, 2004

Box Score

By FRED GOODALL
AP Sports Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Lionel Chalmers, The Atlantic 10 Conference tournament MVP, worked his postseason magic again Friday night, this time helping the seventh-seeded Musketeers stay in the NCAA tournament with an 80-70 victory over Louisville in the opening round of the Atlanta Regional.

Playing with the same poise and confidence that helped the Musketeers win four games in four days in the A-10 tournament, Xavier overcame a 14-point second-half deficit, with Chalmers, Romain Sato and Anthony Myles leading the way.

"We never gave up. No matter what we were down or what we were doing wrong, we knew that if we came together and got things clicking we could make some things happen," Chalmers said. "We were far from out of the game, so it was just a matter of playing the whole 40 minutes."

Chalmers scored 25 points, and Sato added 24 for Xavier, which wiped out a 53-39 deficit with a 36-10 run to erase an 11-point halftime deficit.

Xavier (24-10) moves on to the second round for the third straight year and will face second-seeded Mississippi State (26-3), an 85-52 winner over Monmouth.

Mississippi State won a regular-season meeting between the teams, 82-70 in Starkville on Dec. 13.

"Louisville came out and was playing as well as we'd seen them play since the middle of the season, and we didn't have a lot of answers for them," Xavier coach Thad Matta said.

"But as crazy as it sounds, I wasn't panicked at halftime because I thought that our turnovers were what they were scoring off."

Chalmers had nine points in Xavier's decisive surge, and the Musketeers took their first lead since 5-4 on Dedrick Finn's four-point play that made it 62-60 with just under eight minutes to go.

Taquan Dean led 10th-seeded Louisville (20-10) with 19 points before fouling out with 3:14 left. Luke Whitehead and Francisco Garcia scored 15 apiece for the Cardinals, who missed 21 of 30 shots in the second half.

Despite the poor shooting, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said breakdowns on defense hurt his team most.

"We couldn't contain them off the dribble. We tried going zone. They were just a better basketball team. They were superior," Pitino said.

"We couldn't keep Chalmers out of the middle. Great players play in the middle. Weak players go to the sidelines. They were able to play in the middle of the floor."

Xavier has won 14 of 15 games following a 10-9 start, including a 20-point blowout of then top-ranked Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Pitino was so impressed with the Musketeers' performance in that game that he had his players watch the entire first half of the upset instead of the customary edited highlights of an opponent that could make any team look imposing.

As good as Xavier was in February and March, Louisville was the total opposite. The Cardinals won 16 straight after a season-opening loss to Iowa.

But they lost eight of 12 heading into the NCAA tournament, struggling on the road and with injuries that hindered three key players - Dean, Whitehead and Garcia, who demonstrated Friday night how much they mean to the Cardinals when they're healthy.

Myles finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Xavier. Finn scored 11.