Grenier's winner at the buzzer lifts Assumption past Xavier, 49-46 (w/video)

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Xavier Saints are even now in buzzer beaters this season. Not that they really wanted to be.

It hurts being on the wrong end of one of those suckers.

"You bet it does," Coach Ryan Luehrsmann said of a 49-46 loss Saturday afternoon to Davenport Assumption at Ron Thillen Gymnasium. "That's what we told the guys. We won one earlier that way, and we got the favor returned to us today. That's the sport."

Hunter Grenier's corner jumper officially gave Assumption (4-4) a game it never trailed. Xavier (4-3) rallied from 16 points down in the third quarter, tying things at 46 on a pair of Matt Nelson free throws with 14 seconds to go.

The University of Iowa football recruit had 19 points.

Assumption Coach Joe Barrer eschewed calling a timeout after Nelson's second make, letting his team play. Evan Wadsager brought the ball down court, dribbled to the right side, was cut off, tried again, was cut off and passed to Grenier.

He rose and let it go. Splash, game over.

"I really thought Evan was going to take the shot or get it to the rack and get fouled," said Grenier. "But he kicked it out to me."

Barrer, meanwhile, just smiled as he walked to midcourt to shake hands with Luehrsmann. That was only the second 3-pointer Grenier has tried this season and his second successful one.

The first tied a game against Burlington at the regulation buzzer, with Assumption winning in double overtime. The kid is clutch.

"I thought about the timeout, but I just didn't want them changing defenses," said Barrer, who moved to Assumption from Xavier. "It was a tie game, so worst-case scenario, we were going to overtime. We'd called a couple of timeouts earlier in the quarter when we were on offense, and they came out in a different defense. It was kind of one of those where you roll with it, and see what happens. We got where we wanted to get -spots wise, though not necessarily the shot I probably would have drawn up."

Xavier beat Cedar Rapids Jefferson in mid-December on Adam McDermott's half-court heave at the buzzer. McDermott, the Saints' leading scorer, was limited to eight points here.

Sluggish offensively most of the day, Xavier went five minutes without scoring its first point. It was a pressing defense that finally got the Saints some momentum and back into the ballgame.

This was Xavier's first loss to a Class 3A team in four games."I thought we improved in the second half," Luehrsmann said. "As crazy as it sounds, we got better as a basketball team."

Here is the game boxscore:

AT C.R. XAVIER

DAVENPORT ASSUMPTION (49): Hunter Greiner 4-8 0-0 9, Tim Doyle 1-5 0-0 2, Roman Youngblut 1-3 0-0 2, Addam Rouse 4-10 1-2 12, Evan Wadsager 5-10 6-10 19, Ryan Coughlin 1-2 0-0 3, Jordan Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Schwirtz 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-39 7-12 49.

C.R. XAVIER (49): Adam McDermott 3-8 2-2 8, Calvin Winker 1-4 1-2 3, Matt Nelson 5-9 8-11 19, Andrew Bisenius 0-3 2-2 2, Connor Ramlo 2-2 0-0 5, Frank Hill 1-2 0-0 2, Mitchell Burger 2-4 2-2 7. Totals 14-32 16-19 46.

Halftime - Assumption 28, Xavier 16. 3-point goals - Assumption 8-17 (Greiner 1-1, Doyle 0-2, Rouse 3-6, Wadsager 3-6, Coughlin 1-2), Xavier 2-11 (McDermott 0-5, Winker 0-1, Bisenius 0-2, Ramlo 1-1, Burger 1-2). Rebounds - Assumption 23 (Doyle 6), Xavier 17 (Winker 6). Total fouls - Assumption 12, Xavier 12. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Assumption 12, Xavier 10.