Top-Ranked Tide Knocks Off #19 Xavier, 65-58
1/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Chris Woodfin
In a Top 25 match-up featuring two national player of the year candidates, the No. 1 ranked (AP) University of Alabama men's basketball team (10-1) rolled to a 65-58 victory over No. 19 Xavier (9-3) in front of a sellout crowd of 15,316. Alabama's Erwin Dudley outmatched Xavier's David West by picking up his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 boards.
West appeared to be on his way to a dominating game for the Musketeers by scoring 16 points and pulling down eight boards in the first half. However, the Tide turned up the defensive pressure on him in the second half, holding him to zero points and zero boards in the second stanza.
Alabama's defense held Xavier to 38 percent from the field for the game, including 33 percent in the second half.
The Tide also forced 19 turnovers, outscoring the Musketeers 26-9 off the miscues, and picked up a season high 11 steals.
Helping the Tide's cause on the defensive end was junior Antoine Pettway who picked up a career high five steals.
Mo Williams helped Dudley lead the way on the offensive end of the floor, dropping in 17 points.
Romain Sato paced Xavier, picking up a game high 20 points.
Alabama got off to a slow start, trailing 5-0 after two minutes of play. However the Tide turned when down 16-11, Alabama reeled of 19 straight points, seven of which were from Dudley; in just under a six minute span to take a 30-16 lead.
Xavier bounced right back, going on a 13-0 run to cut Bama's lead to one. However the Tide took a 35-32 lead to the locker-room.
The Tide came out on fire to start the second half, going on a 15-5 run over the first six and a half minutes to take a 13 point lead at 50-37.
Xavier bounced back cutting the lead to 60-57 with two minutes to play, but the Tide would not be denied, hanging on to take the seven point victory.
Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried was pleased to see a packed house.
"What a great crowd," Gottfried said. "What a phenomenal crowd for a non-SEC game here. It's absolutely fantastic. Wednesday night we need the same type of atmosphere. Our players feed off that. Our players need that. They appreciate that and they know it helps them. So thank you to our fans."
The top-ranked Tide opens the conference season on Wednesday night when Arkansas visits Coleman Coliseum. Tip-off for the game is set for 7:00 p.m. The game can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
