ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- When Dedrick Finn's shot from well beyond
midcourt went through the basket, Mississippi State knew it was in
trouble.
"He did that," Bulldogs guard Timmy Bowers lamented, "and I
said it's going to be a long night."
Finn's buzzer beater gave Xavier a one-point halftime lead, and
the seventh-seeded Musketeers went on to win 89-74 Sunday in an
upset that sends them to the Atlanta Regional semifinals.
Lionel Chalmers scored a career-high 31 points and Finn added
22, helping Xavier (25-10) advance beyond the second round of the
NCAA tournament for the first time since 1990. The Musketeers won
opening-round games the past two years, only to go on to lose to
Oklahoma and Maryland.
"If this is not my time, I'm not going to have a time," said
Chalmers, one of Xavier's three starting seniors.
"I've been feeling good and just knocking it down. There's
really not too many things you can do to me out there when I feel
like I can make shots."
Xavier, which has won 15 of 16 after a 10-9 start, overcame a
double-digit deficit for the second straight game and will face No.
3 seed Texas in the regional semifinals.
Chalmers made 11 of 13 shots, including all four of his 3-point
attempts. Finn was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, while Romain Sato --
the Musketeers' leading scorer during the regular season -- finished
with 12.
"There wasn't much we could do against Chalmers," Mississippi
State's Shane Power said.
"He made contested shots, NBA 3's, whatever," Bowers added.
"He's one of the best guards in the country. He may not get
credit, but today he put his team on his back and carried them."
Mississippi State (26-4), the No. 2 seed, shot 36 percent and
lost control after building a 23-13 lead in the first 11 minutes.
Xavier finished the half with a 21-10 run, with Chalmers scoring 12
in that stretch.
Power led the Southeastern Conference regular-season champions
with 16 points. Bowers had 15 and SEC player of the year Lawrence
Roberts was limited to 11 on 4-for-11 shooting.
"Whenever three players go 11-for-14 on 3-pointers and the team
goes 13-for-19, it's difficult to come back," Mississippi State
coach Rick Stansbury said, fending off a question about why Roberts
wasn't a factor.
"They made huge shots all day long," the coach added.
Xavier's late-season surge included a 20-point blowout of then
top-ranked Saint Joseph's, while Mississippi State earned its No. 2
seeding based on winning its first outright SEC regular season
title in 41 years.
Sato was held to a season-low seven points in Xavier's 82-70
regular-season loss to Mississippi State three months ago, and the
6-foot-5 guard scored only six in a December 2002 loss to the
Bulldogs at Madison Square Garden.
A key element of Mississippi State's game plan again was
containing Sato. But in doing that, the Bulldogs were unable to
keep up with the lightning-quick Chalmers, who repeatedly knifed
his way through the defense to score or set up opportunities for
teammates.
The 6-foot point guard was equally effective from the perimeter,
finishing 6-of-7 from the field and making a pair of 3-pointers
over taller defenders during the first-half run that got the
Musketeers back into the game.
Finn's buzzer beater put Xavier ahead 34-33 at the half and set
the tone for the rest of the game.
The Musketeers returned from the locker room to build the lead
with 10 on Justin Doellman's 3-pointer with just under nine minutes
to go. Six minutes later, Finn's long 3 -- his fifth of the game --
made it 75-63 and took the last bit of fight out of the Bulldogs.
"No other team deserves this like we do," Chalmers said.
"We've been through a lot. I've been through a lot in four years.
It just feels real good."