St Xavier beat Withrow at the Cintas Center today to earn a trip to the state D1 Final Four. St X will play Friday Mar 14th at 5:15pm for a berth in the championship game.

X combined some clutch FT shooting and some timely rebounds to earn the 52-51 win. Yancy Gates, in his final game before becoming a Cincinnati Bearcat, missed two FT’s with two seconds on the clock, preventing the Withrow win, or at least an overtime session.  

Its too bad that the game ended with the two missed FT’s. Many on press row admitted that they wanted Gates to hit one of the two, so that the game would go into overtime – it was that good of a game.


St Xavier  

Walt Gibler  2008 PF - This Loyola of Illinois signee scored 9 pts on 3 of 10 shooting from the field, had six rebounds and five assists.

Notes: missed 10 j, missed 5' jh, hit LU, missed top of key trey, missed LU, hit LU, miss 17' j, hit LU, off fl TO, asst, Fld on LU def reb, spin missed LU, missed front end of 1-1 with his team down 1 with 15 sec left in game, hit game sealing FT’s with 15 sec left.

Brad Loesing 2008 PG - The Wofford signee had 14 pts on 5 of 9 shooting. This kid is just a winner who knows how to lead his team. His five assts were offset by five turnovers, but his leadership and poise were an important facet to the X win.

Notes: def reb, layup, def reb, missed LU, hit wing 3, asst, asst, missed LH LU, TO, asst.

Steve Stefanou 2008 C - This University of Chicago signee scored five pts and grabbed two rebs. He was strong on defense helping defend man child Gates.

Notes: hit missed w 3, missed PB, missed w 3, hit LU, layup fouled hit 1-2 FTs.

Tom Williams 2008 PF – Williams was big all game long hitting several big shots scoring 10 pts on 5 of 7 from the field. Also did decent job helping guard Gates in St Xavier’s 2-3 zone. Williams is attending the U of Chicago with Stefanou.

Notes: hit 17 j, pb good, hit LH LU, missed PB, missed w3, hit 17' j, hit LU, hit LU.


Withrow  

Yancy Gates 2008 PF – Gates finished with 16 pts and 5 rebs in 29 mins of playing time. He scored just four points in the first half and came on strong late in the game when in some quick sequences he had a dunk, two FT’s and a layup with two X players draped on him. He was getting double teamed when an entry pass looked possible, or after he caught it.  He had his usual Yancy-like game: when he chose to work hard, he succeeded.  

Notes: reb, got blocked, 5 ft jumper, push shot mss, 18’ miss, alley oop failed, reb, putback, steal.  Second half: reb, dunk, two FT’s, block, reb, layup, dunk, two FT’s, layup, the two missed FT’s at the end.,

Troy Long 2008 SG – Long came out like gang busters helping Withrow to the early 13-6 lead with three treys. He made 4-8 on the game. He had three steals and was 2-2 from the line and finished with 18 pts, leading his team.

Chris Grimes 2008 C – Big Chris had just two made FT’s in the scoring column but did grab 7 of Withrow’s 17 total rebounds.

Ron Bracey 2008 SF – Bracey had 5 pts but no rebs, which was a negative for Withrow from their SF.

Anthony McBride 2008 PG – McBride, having been a highly ranked player for years finished his career with 8 pts, one reb, 4 assts and three TO’s.  All of his points were on layups and will have to improve his outside shooting to perform well at the college level.  


NOTES -
Both teams shot 5-11 from the three point line

St Xavier 
- Outrebounded Withrow by two
- Had 14 assists to Withrow’s nine.
- Was 20-38 from the field and 7-11 from the line.
- Outscored Withrow 18-9 in the second quarter

Withrow 
- Was 14-17 from the line, scoring 7 more points from the line than St X.
- Was 16-33 from the field.
- Outscored St X 15-7 in the third quarter