Upset of Saint Joseph's done to perfection

DAYTON, Ohio -- And then there were none.

Saint Joseph's, No. 1 in the polls and probably as high among the doubters who questioned its credentials as the last unbeaten team in college basketball, saw its chase for perfection come to a crashing and decisive end yesterday in an Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal loss to Xavier at the Dayton Arena.

In a game that started badly and then got much worse for the Hawks, Xavier rolled to an 87-67 blowout that should send the Musketeers into next week's NCAA Tournament as an at-large team, if they don't take care of business the next two nights by winning the A-10 Tournament to gain the automatic NCAA bid.

For Saint Joseph's (27-1), it means a weekend of uncertainty for the first time in a season that has been filled with the wonder of near-perfection. Coach Phil Martelli's team will fly back to Philadelphia and await the NCAA selection committee's decision on whether to award a season's work with a No. 1 seed or drop the Hawks to No. 2.

"We can't do anything about it," said Martelli, who joked that the television sets went blank for a few hours at the hotel in Indianapolis, where the committee is meeting. "We got an opportunity to speak and we got our butts whipped."

Indeed. It was 43-21 at the half (the most the Hawks had trailed the entire season had been 9 points) and expanded to a ridiculous 74-37 with 7:56 left before Saint Joseph's managed to regain some dignity with a final flourish of poise that has characterized its run over the last two seasons.

The seers -- and the doubters -- will tell you they saw the signs. A week layoff, playing a team with 20 wins, rather than 20 losses, in the first game of what many Saint Joseph's followers believed would be the continuation of a perfect season. The Dayton Arena has also been a graveyard in postseason play for teams with No. 1 rankings and ambitions of an unbeaten season. It was Saint Joseph's that beat No. 1 DePaul in 1981 in a tournament game in Dayton. And it was Kentucky that spoiled an unbeaten season for Indiana in the 1975 NCAA regional finals in Dayton. Add a road flavor to a soldout arena, packed with Xavier fans, and you had all the elements in place for a fall from the top.

And it all worked from the outset for the Musketeers, who did so many things off the charts that the Hawks never really had a chance. Coach Thad Matta's team shot 71 percent, including a mind-boggling 79 percent in the second half, they outrebounded the Hawks, 43-18, and limited Saint Joseph's normally effective long-range shooting to 9 of 33.

Xavier (21-10) came into the game seeded No. 4 in the West in the A-10's crossover pattern of scheduling, which this season is top heavy in the West with good teams. "I've maintained all along that they are the second-best team in the league," said Martelli.

The Musketeers took a 2-0 lead and never trailed as guard Romain Sato (24 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks) and Lionel Chalmers (23 points) outplayed the more highly touted Hawk backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Delonte West.

"This is a great win for Xavier University," said Matta. "But as I told the team, we didn't come here to beat Saint Joseph's, we came here to win this tournament."

"It was the first time in 60 games we got our butts kicked," said Martelli. "They played better than us. We talked after the game and they all accept it. They know what happened. The feeling they have is not a pleasant one."

Said Nelson, "Any loss is devastating. We let ourselves down."

Now they must pick themselves up.

"If we have this feeling next week, it will be time to collect the uniforms," said Martelli. "We must become a desperate team. We are what we are and today was not good enough."