Xavier has to dig deep to oust West Virginia

Late three-pointers push Musketeers to overtime victory

By Bob Baum, Associated Press

Originally published 06:51 p.m., March 27, 2008
Updated 12:23 a.m., March 28, 2008

Chris Carlson / Associated Press

Xavier's C.J. Anderson pulls down a rebound in front of West Virginia's Joe Mazzulla during the Musketeers' 79-75 overtime win Thursday. Anderson finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

In a span of 48 critical seconds late in overtime, B.J. Raymond made more three-pointers than the entire West Virginia team did all night.

He went from "nonfactor" to nonplussed, calmly knocking down two long-range jumpers that lifted Xavier past coach Bob Huggins' Mountaineers 79-75 on Thursday night in the West Region semifinals.

Third-seeded Xavier (30-6) rallied from a six-point deficit in overtime and will seek its first Final Four appearance when it plays UCLA on Saturday.

Raymond, who scored all eight of his points from overtime, hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 1:18 to play.

He then shook loose on an inbound play, took a crosscourt bounce pass from Stanley Burrell and made a three-pointer with the shot clock expiring for a 78-74 lead with 30 seconds left.

"I was kind of a nonfactor for the first 40 minutes," Raymond said. "I knew when I got back in there, I had to make something happen."

The second three-pointer was the dagger.

"It wasn't a great play that I drew up," Xavier coach Sean Miller said. "It was a terrific pass by Stanley Burrell and an amazing shot off the bounce by B.J."

Huggins said his defense clogged up the intended play but "somebody fell asleep" to allow the wide-open three-pointer.

Josh Duncan scored a career- high 26 points despite foul trouble to lead Xavier.

Xavier, which led by 18 early in the game, rallied from a 71-65 deficit in overtime.

Joe Alexander scored 18 and had 10 rebounds for the seventh- seeded Mountaineers (26-11) before fouling out in the overtime.

West Virginia missed 4-of-6 throws in the overtime.

Alexander missed one with 14.2 seconds left in regulation that would have given his team a 65-64 lead.

Xavier shot 11-for-19 on three-pointer while West Virginia went 1-of-11. The Mountaineers had only one worse performance on three-pointers this season, 1-of-22 in a loss to Cincinnati.

"I don't know what we are shooting on the year, but it is definitely better than 10 percent," Alexander said. "In a close game like that, if we would have shot even half of what we normally shoot, it would have made a big difference."

Going into the game, West Virginia had shot 35 percent on three-pointers.

Duncan was 3-of-4 on threes, Drew Lavender 3-of-6 and Raymond 2-of-4.

"I shot that shot probably 100,000 times in my life," Raymond said. "It is easy once you've shot it so many times."

Da'Sean Butler added 16 points, 14 in the second half, for West Virginia. Butler also fouled out in overtime.

The Mountaineers took their first lead of the game at 51-50 on Butler's 8-foot bank shot with 9:41 left.

There were six lead changes and four ties the remainder of regulation.