X...A...V...I-E-R!

Sunday was a big, big day.

Xavier takes control of the A-10. Being an X-Treme Fan, I, along with 2 buses full of students, departed Xavier at 6 A.M. and endured the 12 hour round-trip to cheer on our Musketeers in Pittsburgh against Duquesne University, located in Pittsburgh. I can say from experience that Pittsburgh really is a piece of crap city. I've heard it referred to Shittsburgh before, and that's pretty damn accurate. We at one point saw a Duquesne building completely boarded up...boy, that looks good for your school. This fueled the classic "Go back to your shanties!" chant at the end of the game. The game was not played in their on-campus stadium, the A.J. Palumbo Center, but actually in Consol Energy Center, the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. That is one nice stadium...damn. Duquesne was up by one at halftime, but our first-half production came from an unlikely source: Dante Jackson. Is he back? Dante had all 8 points in a spurt in a span of 1:20 in the first half. He had 11 in the first half, and ended up with 19 points. The Freaser (Kenny Frease) had a big 12 boards to go with his quiet 12 points. What ultimately killed the Dukes, though, was foul trouble. B.J. Monteiro, their leading scorer for this game, had 4 fouls early in the second half, as well as their X Factor, Damian Saunders. Monteiro had two spurts where he committed 2 fouls in 1 minute. Oh, and their free throw shooting was abysmal. In the final 3 minutes, Duquesne went 1-6, and the only made free throw was when the game was already in hand. Tu Holloway led all scorers with 20, and Monteiro had 17. Their leading scorer for the season, Bill Clark, had 14, but was very poor from all over the court, going 4-11 from the field, 2-8 from downtown, and a pathetic 4-8 from the charity stripe. Saunders had 11, but at one point, missed 4 tip-ins in a row. Just not your night when you do something stupid like that. The Dukes ended up going 13-27 from the free throw line. That won't get it done. And let's just say that the 6 hour bus ride home was 6 of the best hours I've ever spent. Xavier's next game is Wednesday at Saint Joseph's.

DEUCES, DUQUESNE.