Xavier defense smothers Coppin State
Sato leads Musketeers to season-opening victory with 24 points

Box Score

CINCINNATI -Xavier's smothering man-to-man is still intact.

Romain Sato scored 24 points and Xavier took a shaky first step without David West, relying on its guards and its defense to beat Coppin State 62-37 Saturday in the Dell™ Black Coaches Association Classic.

		Romain Sato led Xavier with 24 points in the Musketeers' opening night win in the Dell BCA Classic.

In its first game without the 2003 national player of the year, Xavier (1-0) looked like a team trying to find an identity — and a front line.

Xavier's three primary guards — Sato, Lionel Chalmers and Dedrick Finn — accounted for 45 of its 62 points. Chalmers added 12 and Finn had nine.

"The encouraging thing is our offense wasn't very good, and we didn't quit defending," coach Thad Matta said. "A lot of times players tie their defense to their offense."

The Musketeers' man-to-man defense held Coppin State (0-1) to 25.4 percent shooting from the field. The 37 points were the fewest allowed by Xavier since a 75-37 victory over Kenyon on Nov. 28, 1983.

"Coach has been stressing defense a lot," Chalmers said. "That's one of the things we've been working on. For us to be able to do that is great. Every day in practice that's all we hear about is defense, defense, defense."

It will have to carry them for a while.

The Musketeers badly miss West's leadership, 20 points and 12 rebounds per game. The power forward went to New Orleans in the first round of the NBA draft, and his No. 30 jersey hangs over the court.

Xavier got outrebounded for most of the game and had trouble getting off shots inside against Coppin State, a Mid-Eastern Athletic team coming off an 11-17 season.
Xavier shot 36.7 percent from the field and went only 15-of-29 from the free-throw line. Eleven of the Musketeers' 18 field goals were 3-pointers.

Fortunately for Xavier, the Eagles were much, much worse.

"It was a decent performance for about 10 minutes, then our Achilles' heel came up," coach Ron Mitchell said. "We haven't been able to score for the last few years. We averaged only 50 points last year.

"I'm not saying Xavier didn't play decent defense, but I do recall open shots and layups that were missed. When you get an opportunity to score and you don't, it takes a lot out of you."

Sato scored 12 consecutive points midway through the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers that made him Xavier's career leader with 237 threes.

In the first 10 minutes, Xavier's front line combined for only five rebounds and no points. Everything came from the guards, who got the Musketeers ahead early and kept them there.

Chalmers scored nine points and Sato had six as Xavier pulled ahead 15-4. Sato hit three 3-pointers in the flurry and finished 5-of-8 from behind the arc.

The Eagles slowly crept back into it by extending their defense and dominating the boards — at one point, Coppin State had a 19-12 advantage in rebounds.

Chad Yates' basket cut it to 20-19 midway through the half, but Finn's 3-pointer stopped the comeback. Xavier's defense dug in, holding the Eagles to one point over the final five minutes of the half and one basket in the first five minutes of the second half.

Chalmers and Finn opened the second half with 3-pointers that put Xavier ahead 39-22, and Coppin State never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.