Georgia Cries Foul In Defeat

Xavier Victorious After Making 27 Free Throws: Xavier 73, Georgia 61

By the time Dave Bliss got a stat sheet in his hand, his career as a center at Georgia was over. He will not remember the Bulldogs' 73-61 loss to third-seeded Xavier in the first round of the NCAA tournament's West Region yesterday for his six-point, four-rebound performance. He may not even attribute it to the Musketeers' stifling 17-2 run that turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a Xavier lead with just more than seven minutes remaining at Verizon Center.

What Bliss will remember are two numbers: 33, the number of free throws Xavier shot, and five, the number with which Georgia countered.

"The free throw differential pretty much decided the game," Bliss said. "You look at field goal percentage, three-point percentage, they were pretty equal. We were able to out-rebound them. . . . The points they got there pretty much was the gap."

Bliss's explanation of the 14th-seeded Bulldogs' loss was perhaps a bit simplistic, for the Musketeers (28-6) received 20 points from Josh Duncan and 19 from Derrick Brown, and they turned over the ball just seven times, showing in the second half why they earned such a lofty seed.

"I don't think we ever got nervous," senior point guard Drew Lavender said.

Considering the parade to the free throw line, they didn't need to. Not only did the Musketeers get to the line, they converted -- making 27 of 33 overall and 25 of their last 27, all in the second half.

"We at Xavier, we pride ourselves at making more free throws than our opponents shoot," said Musketeers reserve Dante' Jackson, whose only shot of the day was a three-pointer with 7 minutes 20 seconds remaining that gave Xavier its first lead since early in the second half. "That's been our way all year."

Except they didn't accomplish it during the season, making 550 free throws while their opponents shot 565. But yesterday, at least in part because the Musketeers got to the line -- and Georgia Coach Dennis Felton also called it "the difference in the game" -- they moved on to play sixth-seeded Purdue in the second round Saturday.

Thus, the Bulldogs' unlikely and unprecedented run -- one that began with Felton's job in serious jeopardy but resulted in an odyssey through the Southeastern Conference tournament -- ended. Georgia (17-17) was under .500 entering the SEC tournament, but remarkably won the title after playing its quarterfinal and semifinal games on the same day, a bizarre doubleheader made necessary by a tornado that blew a hole in the side of the Georgia Dome.

So the Bulldogs arrived here as something of the darlings of the field, complete with a fan base that included one member holding a sign reading "Georgia Basketball: A Tradition Since Last Friday." They were, in fact, the last team in the field, but were decidedly dangerous.

"I felt like they were the best 14th seed ever," Brown said.

"They were America's team," Jackson added. "They had just won those four games in a row. We were a little nervous about that. . . . My personal feeling for this 3-14 matchup, there was a lot of pressure."