Dec. 2, 2006

Final Stats

Cincinnati - Xavier, ranked as high as 27th in the Associated Press men's basketball poll, took a 17-point lead at halftime and cruised to a 95-61 victory over Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at the Cintas Center. The Musketeers, led by Justin Doellman's 18 points and Justin Cage's double-double, improve to 6-1, while the Catamounts fall to 4-2.

Western was led by junior Antonio Russell, who scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. The Tampa product scored 11 of his 20 in the second half, with those 11 points helping towards the Cats' first 15 of the second half.

Two of the keys to victory for the Musketeers were Xavier holding a 51-26 rebound advantage and Xavier holding Western, who was averaging 10 3-pointers per game coming in to the contest, to just 8-of-31 (25.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Catamounts struck first as Lancaster, Ohio, native Kyle Greathouse had a steal and a layup. The senior later hit a 3-pointer giving WCU an early 5-3 lead. However, Drew Lavender hit jumper in the paint and Doellman made two free throws to put Xavier up two (7-5) and never looked back.

Western would keep its deficit in single digits midway through the first half, getting as close as six down (17-11) on a Stan Johnson put back. Xavier answered with a 10-1 run to go up 15. The Catamount kept battling, working their deficit down to seven (28-21) on a Russell 3-pointer with 9:07 left in the first half. Russell later hit a jumper in the paint to make the score 32-23 at the 7:51 mark. After a media timeout, Xavier ended the first half on a 14-6 run and took a 46-29 lead at the break.

The Musketeers built on that momentum to start the second half with a 16-6 run to take a 27-point lead and put the game out of reach.

Greathouse joined Russell in double figures, scoring 10 points. He made two 3-pointers to give him 167 for his career, now needing just seven more treys to tie current NBA star Kevin Martin for third on Western Carolina's all-time list. Brigham Waginger added eight points and four assists, while Jake Robinson chipped in seven points.

For Xavier, Doellman's 20 points helped him eclipse to 1,000-point barrier for his career and Cage had 10 points and 10 rebounds to get his double-double. Also leading the Musketeers were Josh Duncan (11 points) and Johnny Wolf (11 points).

While Western did suffer the setback today, this season's 4-2 is still the teams best since the 1991-92 season and marks just the ninth time since 1970, a span of 37 years, that Western has at least four wins in its first six contests.

Western will have a week off but will stay on the road, returning to action next Saturday (Dec. 9 at Gardner-Webb. Tip-off in Boiling Springs, N.C., is set for 7:00 pm. The Catamounts will play the fourth of its four-game road swing, returning to Ohio Dec. 16 (Saturday) to face the University of Dayton.