Crawford’s 27 help Xavier hold off Pitt
March 21, 2010
MILWAUKEE (AP)—Suddenly, Jordan Crawford is more than just the guy who dunkedon LeBron James.
Crawford scored 27 points, including a breakaway dunk with just over twominutes remaining, to help Xavier beat Pittsburgh 71-68 in the second round ofthe NCAA tournament on Sunday night.
Jason Love had 14 points and a key block down the stretch for thesixth-seeded Musketeers (26-8), who advanced to play second-seeded Kansas Statein the West Regional semifinals in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Ashton Gibbs scored 19 points and Brad Wanamaker had 16 points and 10rebounds for the third-seeded Panthers (25-9), who nearly rallied with two3-pointers by Gilbert Brown in the final 28 seconds of the game.
Gibbs missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with less than a second left.Pittsburgh had one last chance to inbound the ball with 0.4 seconds left, butWanamaker left the shot short.
It was another strong performance for Crawford, who had 28 points Friday tobail the Musketeers out from a poor first-half shooting performance and beatMinnesota in the first round.
Crawford, a transfer from Indiana, is best-known among basketball fans fordunking on James at an offseason basketball camp.
It was a rematch from last year’s tournament, when the Panthers beat theMusketeers one round later.
Trailing 57-49 with 6:21 remaining, Pittsburgh came back to cut the lead to3 on a baseline layup by Wanamaker, but Terrell Holloway released a pull-upjumper on the other end that bounced twice on the rim and fell in, giving theMusketeers a 61-56 lead with 3:09 remaining.
Jermaine Dixon missed for Pitt, Love ripped down the rebound for Xavier andJamel McLean was fouled on the other end. McLean missed both free throws, butLove swatted away a shot at the other end and Holloway got the ball to Crawfordfor a breakaway dunk with 2:04 left.
Brown hit a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to four with 1:45 left. Crawford wasfouled and hit both free throws, giving Xavier a 65-59 lead with 1:22 remaining.
Gibbs went to the line but hit only one of two free throws.
Holloway then made two free throws but Brown hit another 3-pointer, cuttingXavier’s lead to 67-63 with 27.8 seconds left.
After two free throws by Crawford, Brown hit another 3-pointer to cut thelead to 3 with 16.9 remaining. The inbounds pass went out of bounds, butofficials gave the ball back to Xavier.
Brown fouled Holloway, who made them both, and Pitt’s Travon Woodall drovefor a layup to cut the lead to 3 with 8.2 left.
Dante Jackson missed two free throws for Xavier, but Pittsburgh couldn’tconvert either of its final two chances to tie.
The job of guarding Crawford fell primarily to Jermaine Dixon, the Panthers’top defensive stopper.
Dixon held Crawford in check for the first 13 minutes of the game, butCrawford finally shook free from Dixon later in the first half to hit a layupand get fouled by Wanamaker, converting the three-point play. Crawford brokefree for an acrobatic fast-break layup just seconds later.
The Musketeers would continue on a 16-0 run, taking a 31-18 lead on acatch-and-shoot 3-pointer by Crawford.
Crawford also showed his prowess on the defensive end during a scorelessstreak of more than 6 minutes by the Panthers, blocking a shot by Dante Taylor.
The Panthers, behind Gibbs’ 18 points, cut the lead to 35-28 at halftime.