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| Tu Holloway, along with Mark Lyons, had 22 points in Xavier's win over GW. |
CINCINNATI - Xavier (14-5, 6-0 A-10) remained unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 with a 81-74 win over George Washington on Wednesday night at XU's Cintas Center. There were 16 lead changes and 14 ties before Xavier was able to take control with 4:52 left in the game.
Junior Tu Holloway and sophomore Mark Lyons paced the Musketeers with 22 points apiece. Holloway finished with five rebounds and four assists, and he remains just four points shy of reaching 1,000 points for his career.
Junior Kenny Frease contributed 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Senior Danté Jackson added nine points, six rebounds, and tied his career high dishing out seven assists.
George Washington (10-10, 3-3 A-10) opened the second half with a Dwayne Smith three-point shot and a Joseph Katuka free throw to extend the lead to 44-39 less than a minute into the frame. Xavier would battle back and tie the game, 46-46, on a Jackson three from the right wing.
After Frease tied the game on a lob pass from Holloway, Xavier took a 53-51 lead on another lay-up by Frease. George Washington wasted little time in tying the game only seconds later. Lyons followed with a lay-up of his own to give the lead back to Xavier, 55-53, with 9:54 remaining.
The Colonials again responded quickly by attacking the rim, drawing a Lyons' foul, and sinking both free throws. Following a Musketeer turnover, Tony Taylor scored on an old-fashioned three-point play giving George Washington the three-point advantage, 58-55.
Holloway then went on a 9-0 run, attacking the rim and converting an old fashioned three-point play of his own to tie the game. He then knocked down a pair of three-point shots to put Xavier up 64-58 with 7:24 left in the contest.
George Washington would claw back and tie the game at 64 with just over five minutes remaining. But, a Lyons' three from the right corner would give the Musketeers the lead for good. Xavier would push the lead out to as many as nine points with 1:22 left in the game.
Xavier connected on 25-of-55 (45.5 percent) field goal attempts from the floor, including 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from three-point range. The Musketeers also went 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) from the charity stripe. George Washington connected on 44.2 percent (23-of-52) of its field goal attempts and made a blistering 55.6 percent (10-of-18) of its three-point attempts and 94.7 percent (18-of-19) of its free throws.
Xavier won the rebound battle, 32-30. The Musketeers also had more points in the paint (30-18), points off of turnovers (24-15), and second chance points (27-10).
George Washington led by one point at the break, 40-39, in a back-and-forth first half affair that saw seven ties and 13 lead changes. The last of which came on an Aaron Ware jumper with three seconds remaining on the clock.
During the first frame, Xavier shot 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) of its field goals and 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) free throws. The Colonials shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Xavier held advantages in rebounds (18-13), second chance points (11-9), points in the paint (18-12), and points off of turnovers (11-9).
In the first half, Lyons led the Musketeers with 10 points. Holloway added nine points and four rebounds and Frease chipped in with eight points. Ware and Tony Taylor led the Colonials with eight points apiece in the first frame.
The Colonials were led by Taylor with 21 points and Ware with 14 points and six rebounds.
The Musketeers will head to Richmond, Va., for a clash with the Richmond Spiders on Saturday at 12 p.m. Xavier leads the series 11-4. Last season, the two teams split the contests as Xavier beat Richmond, 78-76, in double overtime during the regular season and lost 89-85 in overtime of the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
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