No. 20 Xavier 74, George Washington 66

1/19/2008 10:26 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -Sean Miller wanted his team's attention. Three days after No. 20 Xavier was pounded by Atlantic-10 rival Temple in Philadelphia, their coach told them it couldn't happen again.

The Musketeers made sure it didn't - barely.

They had trouble with George Washington, and it wasn't until the final moments that Xavier secured a 74-66 win over the Colonials.

Xavier (15-4, 3-1 Atlantic 10), had two runs - one in the first half that gave them a 10-point lead, and one midway through the second half that put them up by 11 - 53-42.

George Washington (5-8, 1-2) fought back, but Drew Lavender and Josh Duncan made sure that the Muskeeters didn't return home with another loss.

``That really wasn't us (on Wednesday),'' Miller said. ``We were much more composed in this game.''

Lavender and Duncan each scored 12 of their 14 points in the second half.

``I stuck with it,'' Duncan said. ``I was fortunate.''

Everyone on the Musketeers was. Down only 66-63, George Washington's Damian Hollis took a step backward and out of bounds with 37.5 seconds to play.

Lavender. who came into the game 91.5 percent from the free-throw line, hit three of four in the final seconds. He had missed just four foul shots this season, was 6-for-8 from the line.

After their 19-point loss to Temple, which broke a six-game winning streak, it's entirely possible that the Muskeeters will fall out of the national rankings, but that doesn't concern Lavender.

``I don't get into the rankings,'' Lavender said. ``We played good enough to win. We let everyone else get into rankings.''

Miller campaigned for recognition of his conference, which he says is underrated. This week, three teams: Dayton, Xavier and Rhode Island are nationally ranked, though all have lost.

``I hope we're one of the better teams in our conference,'' Miller said. ``I respect our conference a great deal. I don't know if it's ever gotten enough credit. It certainly should this year.''

On January 10, the Colonials held Saint Louis to a shot-clock era record 20 points. Nine days later, their coach, Karl Hobbs, couldn't heap enough praise on Xavier.

``Clearly, they are maybe the best team we've played - and we've played UCLA,'' Hobbs said.

George Washington was led by Maureece Rice, who scored a season-high 22 points. Rice was 4-for-11 from 3-point range, but his teammates were just 3-for-17, and Hobbs credited Xavier rather than faulting his team.

``That's what veteran teams do. They created opportunities for themselves,'' Hobbs said. ``When they needed to make the big plays, they made big plays.''