Xavier vs. Findlay Live Blog

Xavier
G - Jackson
G - Raymond
C - Love
F - Brown
F - Anderson

Findlay
G - Parker
G - Lewis
C - Bostic
F - Roberts
F - Evans

Notes: Tonight's game will be the only exhibition contest of the season for Xavier. Findlay comes into tonight's showdown ranked No. 1 in Division II ... XU also played a closed scrimmage against Akron last Saturday but that can't be publicized any further, even in the blogosphere.

UPDATE 7:04: Pretty good crowd tonight and a good student turnout. I will guess the attendance number is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000.

UPDATE 7:06: Derrick Brown wins the tip ... you have to think he will win most of those this year.

UPDATE 7:08: XU has a bit of a beef/height advantage tonight and early rebound numbers exhibit that ... 4-0 Xavier.

UPDATE 7:13: First look at the highly-touted Terrell Holloway and Kenny Frease. The big fella get called for an illegal screen as he one of Findlay's players has a bruised kidney now.

UPDATE 7:21: A fast break dunk by Jamel McLean caps a 14-3 Xavier run and brings the crowd to its feet. The new guys look good in the early goings.

UPDATE 7:32: Kenny Frease just slammed it home, but was immediately called for a technical foul. Frease laughed it off, but Dante Jackson and B.J. Raymond had a few words to offer. The crowd didn't care, they loved the dunk, cheering "KENNY FREASE... KENNY FREASE."

UPDATE 7:46: Findlay is as good as advertised and plays an aggressive brand. The Oilers are 7-of-9 from the free throw line while Xavier is only 1-of-4. A big part of XU's game over the last couple year has been making more free throws than its opponent attempts and Findlay is making that tough. On a side note, does anyone know why Findlay's mascot is an Oiler?

UPDATE 8:05: Xavier leads 37-23 at the break. I thought this would be a good time to remind you about this year's halftime lineup, which was discussed on The X Blog here. Oh how I wish Red Panda was riding around on her unicycle right now.

UPDATE 8:19: A little attitude on this Findlay team. After a thunderous backdoor dunk, Josh Bostic got in Frease's face and got a little verbal. The official immediately lit him up with a technical. Just adding to the flavor.

UPDATE 8:35: B.J. Raymond just hit two straight three-pointers, making a calming motion with his hands and saying "I got it." XU leads 55-39 with 11 minutes left to play, so it sure looks like it.

UPDATE 8:43: Brad Redford checked in and buried two free throws then drained a 3-pointer from about three feet behind the line.

UPDATE 8:52: Tight sneakers now after Morgan Lewis has scored five straight points, cutting the Xavier lead to three points with under five-minutes to go.

UPDATE 9:18: This blogger thought that desperation 3-pointer had a chance and it did draw some iron. Lots of turnovers for XU but there is plenty of time to get that tightened up. Thanks for reading.