No. 25 Xavier downs St. Bonaventure to gain share of A-10 title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jordan Crawford scored 22 points to lead 25th-ranked Xavier to a 93-72 win over St. Bonaventure in the regular-season finale for both teams at Cintas Center.

Jamel McLean poured in 15 points for the Musketeers (23-7, 14-2 Atlantic 10), who finished with the same record as Temple and captured a share of the league title for a fourth straight year but will enter the upcoming conference tournament as the No. 2 seed due to the Owls holding the tiebreaker.

Jason Love added 14 points, Dante Jackson had 11 points and Terrell Holloway contributed nine points and 10 assists in the victory.

"Making history - there's nothing like it," Love said. "I can't put into words how it feels to win a fourth straight conference title."

Andrew Nicholson led the way with 21 points for the Bonnies (14-15, 7-9), who saw their four-game win streak halted. Chris Matthews netted 14 points while Jonathan Hall posted 11 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

"We had to play an A-plus game and they had to play a C game if we were going to win," St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said.

Xavier scored 16 of the game's first 20 points, with a Mark Lyons bucket from in close capping the early surge with 13:45 to play in the first half.

From that point, Xavier went on a 10-2 run and opened an even bigger advantage. A three-point play by McLean made it 19-6 then Lyons added a layup before consecutive scoring possessions -- the first a jumper by Holloway and the second a three-pointer by Jackson -- gave the hosts a commanding 26-6 lead near the midpoint of the half.

A basket by Hall with 5:46 to go brought the Bonnies within 32-20, and several minutes later, a three-pointer by Matthews cut the SBU deficit even further, to 38-30.

Holloway's jumper gave the Musketeers a 44-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, the hosts were simply too much. Crawford's layup over five minutes into the frame put Xavier ahead by 18, 58-40, before a fastbreak jam by Kenny Frease pushed the lead to 22 points.

Nicholson's dunk with 6:50 on the clock drew the Bonnies within 15, 72-57, but a triple by Crawford over a minute later was the start of six straight points that eventually put Xavier back on top by 20 and the remaining minutes were dedicated to honoring the seniors.

Game Notes

This marked Xavier's 24th straight home win, which is good for the third longest home win streak in the nation...Xavier leads the all-time series, 22-15...The Musketeers have won seven straight games and 11 of their last 12 overall...Xavier has now also captured 32 consecutive home conference contests...SBU has dropped nine straight to Xavier, which won the battle on the glass, 38-30.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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