Foul finish

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Xavier Season Highlights

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Xavier senior forward Justin Cage couldn't hide the pain.

He had just finished the best game of his career, leading the ninth-seeded Musketeers to the brink of upsetting No. 1 Ohio State in an NCAA South Regional second-round game Saturday at Rupp Arena.

Twenty-five points. A perfect 8-for-8 shooting day from the field. Three three-pointers.

But those numbers could not soothe the sting of what transpired toward the end of regulation.

Cage sat solemnly in the postgame interview with his head bowed. As reporters' questions waned, he blurted out: "They are so lucky I missed that free throw."

After pulling down a rebound with Xavier clinging to a two-point lead and 9.3 seconds left, Cage was decked by Ohio State freshman star Greg Oden. Some questioned if a flagrant foul should have been called, which would have given Xavier two shots and the ball. The officials didn't see it that way. Instead, the hard shove merely fouled out the Buckeyes' 7-foot center and sent Cage to the free-throw line.

Cage knocked down the first shot for a three-point edge. But the second one rimmed out, setting off gasps on the court, in the stands and all over Ohio.

Ohio State guard Ron Lewis drilled a three-pointer to send the game into overtime. The Buckeyes then jumped on the back of freshman guard Mike Conley Jr. and exhaled with a 78-71 victory and a berth in the Sweet 16 in San Antonio.

Cage reluctantly relived the agony for the Musketeers, who had an 11-point lead with 7:21 left in the second half. After a timeout, Conley found Lewis open for Ohio State's season-saving three. Cage watched in horror.

"I just said, 'Oh God.' I knew he was calling for it," Cage said of Lewis. "He had a clean look. I just kind of held my breath. … It went in. … It kind of froze you for a minute. We had overtime to pull it out. But we didn't."

Conley made sure of that, striking for 11 points in the extra session and finishing with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Lewis, an inconsistent senior with a flair for the dramatic, came up huge with 27 points, including four three-pointers, and eight rebounds. He scored eight of the Buckeyes' final 11 points in regulation.

"I told Mike before we left the huddle just to get me the ball," said Lewis, who beat Tennessee with a late three-pointer in December and starred in a comeback victory at Michigan State in February. "He found me."

Xavier, an unranked mid-major from the Atlantic 10, never would have had a chance against the Big Ten champs without Cage. The Musketeers never would have made the NCAAs without his dominance in the conference tournament, in which he averaged 13 points and shot an amazing 91.7 percent.

Though giving up six inches in height to Oden, Cage outplayed the likely No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft. Oden had 14 points and 12 rebounds over 35 minutes, but he missed seven shots inside and couldn't contain Cage.

"Today he came very close to willing us to the Sweet 16," Xavier coach Sean Miller said of Cage. "He took the matchup (with Oden) personal."

He took the loss personal, too.

"I had a chance to make two free throws to win the game, but it didn't turn out that way," Cage said. "I wasn't nervous. I shot them like I normally do. It just went in and out."

Miller said he was sad to see the season and careers of Cage and fellow seniors Justin Doellman and Brandon Cole end this way. The coach talked to Cage immediately after the game, before he met the media.

"He should focus more on how he played in the game and the great year and career he's had," Miller said. "Not that one last shot."

Try as he might, he couldn't.