A-10 Weekend Wrap: Xavier's Defense Gets Back on Track

Xavier 68, Fordham 50 - After beating St. Bonaventure this week, Sean Miller wasn't happy with the way his team played defense. Yesterday, though, he had no reason to be upset. The Musketeers shut out the Rams for seven minutes and set a new low in points allowed on the season. Up six at the half, the X-men put the game away with a 16-4 run to start the second half. C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond combined for 11 of the points and Raymond led the team with 20 points overall. Bryant Dunston, Fordham's impressive big man, had 19 points and 11 rebounds but couldn't overcome a keyed up Musketeer defense.

Rhode Island 80, Duquesne 78 - The Rams narrowly avoided a second straight loss to start conference play thanks to Jimmy Baron's late heroics. Baron hit a fadeaway jumper with three seconds left to put the Rams up one after Reggie Jackson missed a big free throw. Jackson led the Dukes with 19 points while the Rams got another huge game from Will Daniels. He tied a season-high with 28 points and added 11 rebounds. Kahiem Seawright also had a big game for URI. He scored nine points, grabbed 10 caroms and blocked four shots.

Dayton 68, Saint Louis 57 (OT) - The Billikens spent 40 minutes erasing the memory of their 20-point outing by hanging with the Flyers every step of the way. Then they spent five minutes making that miserable game against GW seem like a wonderful dream. They were 1-for-8 in the extra session while Brian Roberts scored seven of his 30 to lift Dayton to the win.

St. Joe's 81, Richmond 63 - The Hawks won for the fifth straight game and improved to 2-0 in conference behind Pat Calathes. Calathes had 22 points, 10 rebounds and four threes to subdue the Spiders. Phil Martelli's offense is really coming together. They've averaged 80 points a game during their winning streak and are showing signs of making the conference race much more interesting.

Charlotte 60, Temple 58 - The conference opener for both clubs turned on a strong second half from Leemire Goldwire. He had 15 of his 21 points in the second half, scored Charlotte's final 11 points and hit two free throws with 13 seconds to play to provide the 49ers with the margin of victory.

LaSalle 72, St. Bonaventure 61 - The Explorers evened their record at 1-1 and got a reason to hope that future seasons will be successful ones. The freshman Jerrell Williams had 15 points and 15 rebounds and sophomore Rodney Green had 19 points and seven boards. 2008 might not end with a trip to the postseason but perhaps 2009 will if Williams and Green keep growing.