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GAME NOTES: In-state rivals clash for the third time this season as the 24th- ranked Xavier Musketeers and the Dayton Flyers take part in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this evening.

The seventh-seeded Flyers have already seen action in the 34th edition of this event, having defeated George Washington on Tuesday night by a score of 70-60 at home. The win was just the second in the last six games for a Dayton squad that hit the skids at the wrong time this season as it tries to win its first A-10 Tournament title since 2003.

Xavier, which defeated the Flyers in the championship round of this tourney back in 2004, is the second seed this season after posting an impressive 14-2 mark against the rest of the league during the regular season. The Musketeers are one of the hottest teams heading into the postseason, riding a seven-game win streak as they shoot for their fifth crown overall in this event.

The teams split two meetings this season as both won on their home floors. As a result of their complete domination of Xavier in Dayton a month ago in a lopsided 90-65 final, the Flyers now own an 82-69 advantage in the all-time series.

The winner of this meeting will be heading to the semifinals on Saturday to take on the winner of the Massachusetts/Richmond contest.

Marcus Johnson scored a team-best 16 points, one of four players to hit for double figures in the win over the Colonials earlier this week. Chris Johnson and Rob Lowery tallied 11 points apiece and Paul Williams added 10 off the bench as he made good on 7-of-8 shots at the free-throw line. In fact, the free-throw line is where the meeting was won for the Flyers as they made good on 17-of-21 attempts in the second half and outscored George Washington at the stripe overall, 26-10. Despite finishing with just seven points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field, due in part to his foul trouble during the meeting, Chris Wright remains the top scorer for the Flyers with his 14.1 ppg, thanks to his 52.4 percent accuracy from the field overall. Chris Johnson steps in with 11.8 ppg and has combined with Wright to account for more than 14 rebounds per outing, but just 56 total assists over the course of 31 games this season.

A big reason why the Musketeers have managed to string together their fifth straight 20-win season and the 13th in the last 14 campaigns, is Jordan Crawford who leads the A-10 in scoring with his 19.7 ppg. Crawford has been elevating his game in recent weeks by putting up 21.1 ppg over the last 10 games. Second on the team in assists with 89, Crawford has not only made good on 39.9 percent of his three-point shots, he has also found opportunity to clear close to five rebounds per game at the same time. Jason Love, an All- A-10 Second-Team choice, paces the unit on the glass with his 8.6 rpg and because he stays so close to the rim he has made good on 58.1 percent of his field goal attempts, en route to 11.9 ppg. Toss in Terrell Holloway (11.4 ppg) as another scoring threat who is also in charge of distributing the ball to teammates to the tune of 120 assists, and it is not easy finding a weak link in the XU lineup.

Even though the layoff has proven detrimental to some teams in their respective conference tournaments, the added time to prepare can only help a team like the Musketeers who are itching to repay the Flyers for that lopsided loss last month.