A-10 Champion Musketeers tangle with Hawks on the Hill

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/06/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked Xavier Musketeers carry an 11-game win streak into tonight's Atlantic 10 Conference clash with the struggling Saint Joseph's Hawks.

The Musketeers are coming off a 66-56 victory over George Washington on Saturday, and they have already wrapped up the A-10 regular-season title and top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Xavier is 13-1 in league play, and no other team in the conference has fewer than five league losses.

Saint Joseph's owns an 8-6 league record, good for a four-way tie for third place. The Hawks, who are 17-10 overall, have lost two straight and five of their last seven, and they now appear to be on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble. On Sunday, they dropped a heartbreaking 57-56 decision to rival Temple.

Xavier beat Saint Joseph's by a 76-72 final on February 10th, but the Hawks still hold a 19-15 edge in the all-time series.

Through 29 outings, Xavier is scoring 76.1 ppg while limiting the opposition to 62.0 ppg on 40.1 percent shooting from the floor. The Musketeers are outrebounding opponents by 5.6 rpg, a key to their success. It is hard to find many teams as balanced offensively as Xavier, as the team has five double-digit scorers in the lineup. Josh Duncan leads the pack with 11.7 ppg, while Drew Lavender is scoring 10.8 ppg to go along with 127 assists against 50 turnovers. B.J. Raymond and Derrick Brown are both scoring 10.7 ppg, while C.J. Anderson checks in with 10.6 ppg. Stanley Burrell's average has fallen to 9.9 ppg, as the team has had six double-digit scorers for much of the season. In the most recent win over George Washington, Anderson tallied 15 points, while Jason Love added 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Musketeers connected on 55 percent of their field goal attempts, key to the victory.

So what caused the most recent loss to Temple for Saint Joseph's? Well, it certainly didn't help matters that the Hawks connected on only 38.5 percent of their field goal attempts, including a 2-of-16 showing from three-point range. They earned a narrow rebounding advantage and shot the ball well from the foul line, but the shaky showing from the floor caused the setback. Pat Calathes posted 14 points and nine rebounds for Saint Joseph's, but the A-10 Player of the Year candidate only shot 3-of-14 from the field. Ahmad Nivins added 11 points in 34 minutes of action. Calathes is generating 17.9 ppg on 41.3 percent shooting from behind the arc, and he also adds 7.7 rpg and 75 assists to the mix. He has blocked 35 shots and recorded 36 steals, proof of his tremendous versatility. As for Nivins, he is scoring 14.2 ppg but hasn't been quite as productive as expected this season. Rob Ferguson (11.7 ppg), Tasheed Carr (10.8 ppg) and Darrin Govens (10.7 ppg) add balance to the lineup.

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