Xavier Passes First Test Against Gardner-Webb - Tennessee Up Next

The Xavier Musketeers blended a lot of new faces into its starting lineup and passed its first challenge of the season in a 83-59 win over the Running Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb.

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Newcomers Matt Stainbrook turned in a double-double in his Xavier debut with 13 points and 12 rebounds.  Stainbrook, who is a transfer from Western Michigan, was the first Xavier player to have a double-double in his Xaver debut since Jamel McClean had 10 points and 10 rebounds against IPFW on November 14, 2008.

"I was very excited coming into this game," Stainbrook said. "I wanted to hit the ground running and didn't want to be tentative. It's been on my calendar for a long time. 'So I'm sitting out this year, when's the first game? It's on the calendar. Cool.' Now I'm just looking forward to the rest of the season."

Freshman Brandon Randolph scored 12 points for the Musketeers.

James Farr scored 10 points, while Semaj Christon led Xavier with 14 points.

Donta Harper led all scores with 20 points.

The Running Bulldogs are coming off a 21-13 season.

The Musketeers were deeper than the Running Bulldogs, outrebounding them 45-27 and scored a lot of points in transition.

"We were right with them until the last three minutes of the first half," said first-year coach Tim Craft. "They went to the line 40 times.  That's a sign of a team that is aggressive.  They played fast and were really hard to guard in transition."

Xavier, already missing point guard Dee Davis, who sat out as a result of concussion suffered in pre-season, are anxiously awaiting news on Myles Davis and Justin Martin.

Davis left the game after he was hit on the arm.  Martin was a little "woozy" according to coach Chris Mack.

Xavier has a quick turnaround.  They take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday.  It will be the season opener for Tennessee.