Lavender Leads Musketeers Past Cougars

Xavier 79, Brigham Young 77

Xavier's Drew Lavender celebrates a 3-point shot against Brigham Young during the second half of an NCAA Tournament South Regional first-round basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, March 15, 2007. Lavender scored 17 points as Xavier defeated BYU 79-77. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke) (Ed Reinke - AP)

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- With the game on the line, no one had to encourage the smallest player on the floor to take over for Xavier. Drew Lavender wants the ball in those situations.

The fearless 5-foot-7 transfer from Oklahoma, made two clutch floaters in the lane, then grabbed a crucial rebound and sank two free throws to finish a six-point flurry in the final two minutes to help ninth-seeded Musketeers beat eighth-seeded Brigham Young 79-77 in the first round of the South Regional Thursday night.

"That's his nature. He comes from a basketball family. He comes from a high school program that breeds toughness," Xavier coach Sean Miller said. "You don't have to tell a player like that what to do at the end of a game."

Justin Doellman scored 23 points and Lavender finished with 17 to help Xavier (25-8) advance beyond the first round for the fourth time in its last five NCAA appearances. The Atlantic 10 co-regular season champions will face top-seeded Ohio State and former Musketeers coach Thad Matta in the second round.

"It's hard enough to make the tournament. It's even harder to advance. We're glad to be in the seat we're in," said Miller, who was associate head coach under Matta at Xavier for three years.

"Clearly they're not 31-3 because they're OK. They're 31-3 because they're a terrific team, well coached, in a system they believe in. We're going to try our best. It's going to be a difficult task."

Xavier trailed by as many as nine before Lavender, Doellman and B.J. Raymond hit 3-pointers during a 16-3 run that turned a 52-44 deficit into a 60-55 lead. BYU (25-9) battled back to take a 73-71 lead with 2:10 to go, but couldn't stop Lavender down the stretch.

Mountain West Conference player of the year Keena Young led BYU with 24 points, including a layup at the buzzer. Mike Rose scored 15 on 3-pointers and Austin Ainge added 12 for the Cougars.

Xavier reserve freshman forward Derrick Brown had 16 rebounds.

BYU has not made it out of first round of the NCAA tournament since 1993 when it beat SMU before losing to Kansas in the round of 32. The Cougars also made quick exits in 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Ainge, the son of former BYU and NBA star Danny Ainge, said the Cougars fifth consecutive first-round loss does not detract from a rewarding season that saw the Cougars win the Mountain West regular season title _ BYU's first outright conference crown since 1988.

"I don't think it takes away from that, but it left something unfinished," Ainge said. "It's a goal we put at the end of the year. We didn't quite get it done, and that hurts."