Last year’s heartbreak teaches Xavier

WASHINGTON -- It was the kind of loss that could leave a program a shambles.

The tale of Xavier’s 2007 NCAA basketball tournament experience isn’t told in what was. It’s told in what should have been.

Facing top-seeded eventual national runner-up Ohio State in the second round, the Musketeers had a nine-point lead and were three minutes from the Sweet 16.

For a school without a Final Four appearance and regularly overshadowed by their in-state, big-school rival in Ohio State, it was the ultimate chance for an upset of the ages.

It would have been payback against the Buckeyes for hiring away former Xavier coach Thad Matta. It could have been the biggest victory in school history. It should have blown up brackets around the country and made the Musketeers the darlings of the college basketball world.

“We played at a very high level,” Coach Sean Miller said of his team’s performance that day. “We tasted a Sweet 16 type of feeling.”

But what they were left with was bitter. Until now.

Xavier’s victory over Purdue on Saturday in the second round of the West Regional sent the (29-6) to the round of 16 that they came so tantalizingly close to reaching a season ago.

Furthermore, if they’re able to get past No. 7 West Virginia (26-10) -- and a former nemesis in Mountaineers Coach Bob Huggins, who for years guided rival Cincinnati -- on Thursday at Phoenix, an opportunity for redemption potentially looms Saturday in the form of another No. 1-seeded team: UCLA.

“Just knowing how close we were, it motivates us a lot,” point guard Drew Lavender said. “When we have a better team out like that, we have to put them away. That’s what we take away from that. You can’t let them hang around. We’ve got to control the game from start to finish.”

Xavier’s third Sweet 16 trip in school history had to seem a lifetime away when the Musketeers had their hearts broken last March.

Ohio State slowly closed the gap in the final minutes. Then, leading by three with nine seconds remaining, Xavier’s Justin Cage rimmed out a free throw. On the other end, the Buckeyes’ Ron Lewis came around a screen, took a handoff and made an NBA-range three-pointer to send the game into overtime.

Xavier never recovered, falling, 78-71.

It was a crushing loss, but the players back from that team refused to let it define them. They used the memory -- and lessons learned -- as a catalyst to drive them toward another opportunity to shine on a national stage.

“It’s definitely been a positive,” senior forward Josh Duncan said of the Ohio State game. “We were that close. It showed we can hang with a great team. That was motivation for us to improve over the summer, not only individually, but as a team, and to come into this season ready.”

Xavier won the championship of the Atlantic 10 Conference, was ranked in the top 25 most of the season and was a top 10 team until losing in a semifinal of its conference tournament.

The Musketeers have a proud basketball history, but, as a small school from something other than a power league, they carry the tag of a “mid-major.”

It’s a term those in the program revile, going so far as even rejecting a “mid-major player of the week” award given to Lavender this season because they didn’t view themselves as fitting the criteria. With wins this week, Xavier is hoping to further bury that perception with a Final Four appearance, which would be the school’s first.

“It’s awesome watching the program continue to grow under Coach Miller,” senior guard Stanley Burrell said. “As freshmen, we said if we stayed the course and kept doing the right things we’re eventually going to be there. And we’ve grown closer and closer together.

“That’s why I love this team. We play for each other. We don’t do any individual things whatsoever. It’s all about the team and how we can help Xavier get to the next level. I’m so proud of these guys.”

After the poor showing in overtime to Ohio State, skeptics questioned how the Musketeers would respond to another dose of tournament adversity. They were given that test early by Georgia, which built a double-digit second half lead in the first round.

Xavier responded by holding the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly five minutes, going on a 22-6 run to take command.

In the second round, yet another Big Ten team hit Xavier with a late run. Holding a 60-50 lead midway through the second half, Purdue quickly scored 11 consecutive points to take a lead. But instead of wilting as they did to the Buckeyes, Xavier struck back with a 7-0 run of its own, seizing the lead for good.

“The experience is everything,” Burrell said. “We could have panicked and been, ‘Oh man, not again.’ But we stayed poised like we have the whole year. It’s made us battle-tested.”

For the third-seeded Musketeers, it seems one of the most successful seasons in school history comes as a direct result of experiencing heartbreak.

“It’s been very much of a positive feeling about that game for this year’s team,” Miller said. “We brought a lot of the same parts back from that team. We worked very hard over the summer in hopes that we would return to this tournament.

“But this time, we’re looking to do a better job and take the next step.”

So far, they’ve done exactly that.

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ben.dubose@latimes.com