The three lead a 30-7 second-half run in the Musketeers' 80-70 win.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 20, 2004
ORLANDO - In this day and age, you don't usually find three seniors in a starting lineup, certainly not three the caliber of Xavier's Romain Sato, Lionel Chalmers and Anthony Myles.
Anyone in the Atlantic 10 can tell you what that means.
Anyone on the Louisville Cardinals can, too.
That trio combined for 64 points, 24 in a 30-7 run that erased a double-digit second-half deficit and carried Xavier to an 80-70 win Friday before an announced 15,961 at the TD Waterhouse Centre.
"This is one of the biggest wins I know we've had at Xavier University," third-year coach Thad Matta said. "We beat a great basketball team."
The No.7-seeded Musketeers (24-10) play No.2-seeded Mississippi State in the second round Sunday for a chance to advance to the Atlanta Region's Sweet 16. Mississippi State beat visiting Xavier 82-70 on Dec. 13.
That was when the Musketeers looked more like mouseketeers.
Not now. Xavier came into the tournament having won 13 of its previous 14, culminating with a four-game sweep in the A-10 tournament that included an 87-67 humbling of then unbeaten and No.1-ranked Saint Joseph's and ended with a 58-49 win over Dayton on the Flyers' homecourt.
The No.10-seeded Cardinals (20-10), whose top two players, guard Taquan Dean and forward Francisco Garcia, are sophomores, didn't look like they'd need the elders on this night.
Dean hit a 3-pointer, drew a foul from Chalmers and completed the four-point play to ignite a 14-1 run during a 2:22 span as the Cardinals headed to the locker room with a 42-31 lead.
"Louisville came out and was playing, I thought, as well as we'd seen them play since the middle of the season," Matta said. "We didn't have a lot of answers for them. At halftime, we basically told our guys, "This is going to be a players' game. You've got to make plays."'
He had the experienced, talented guys to do just that.
The Musketeers still trailed 56-45 with 13:57 left when Myles began to exert his powerful 6-9, 245-pound frame inside. Almost a nonfactor in the first half (three points), and that after saying he had to be a force to take the pressure off guards Sato and Chalmers, he grew more active.
"Lionel is our biggest key right now," Myles said. "When he's going, when he's out there playing hard, everybody feeds off of him. Especially me. When I see the look in his eyes ready to go, I'm determined to make him proud."
A Myles dunk, his second basket in a couple minutes, cut the Louisville lead to 56-51 with 12:14 left. Sato followed with two free throws and, after a Louisville turnover, Chalmers broke out for a thunderous, one-handed dunk that got Xavier within one and brought the pocket of blue-and-white clad fans to their feet.
Before they could catch their collective breath, Sato tied it at 58 on a 3-pointer with 9:55 left.
Louisville senior center Kendall Dartez regained the lead with two free throws, but sophomore guard Dedrick Finn hit a 3-pointer, drew a foul from Garcia and completed a four-point play to give Xavier its first lead at 62-60 since 1:32 into the game.
"We settled down and took control of the game," Chalmers said, who led all scorers with 25.
"They're a terrific team," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "We knew they weren't going to go away. ... We were the superior team for a half, but they were the superior team overall."
