Muskies Beat DU, Lead A-10

XU's Dante Jackson tied his
career-high in points with 19 in
Xavier's win over Duquesne.

By: Cooper Ledford


The Xavier Musketeers and the Duquesne Dukes were tied for 1st place in the Atlantic 10, as they both were 8-1 in conference play.  XU and DU met up in the city of Pittsburgh to determine the A-10 leader.  The Dukes were favored, but it was Xavier who pulled away with a win, and move atop the A-10 by-themselves, as the final is 71-63.


Xavier lead majority of the 1st half, as they had as much as a 10 point lead with 7:40 to go, but the Dukes would fight back and take the lead before the half, 37-36.


In the 2nd half the game would go back-and-forth until there was 7:53 to go, and the Muskies went on an 8-0 run and never really looked back.


A big reason the X-Men won was because of how many free throw opportunities they got, as they had 30 chances for some free points, and were successful on 22 of them.  As for the Dukes, they had their chances, 27
to be exact, but did poorly at converting them, as they shot 13-27.


Tu Holloway lead the way with 20 points, but Dante Jackson was the story of the game, as he tied a career-high with 19 points, and shot 4-6 from triple country.  Kenny Frease had a double-double, as he had 12 points and 12 rebounds.  Jamel McLean added 10 points and 9 boards.


Let's talk about Tu Holloway.  Coach Mack pulled him out of the game with a little over 11 minutes to play in the 2nd and out Mark Lyons in, as Tu was not getting the job done.  Well, shortly after that, with about 11 and a half to play, Lyons fouled out, and Tu came back in, and played like the Tu we know.  Perhaps Coach Mack will ask Lyons to foul out more.


B.J. Monteiro lead the way for Duquesne, as he had 17 points.  Bill Clark had a double-double, as he had 14 points and 11 rebounds.  Saunders added 11 points.


So, Xavier goes to 18-6 overall, and 9-1 in conference play, while DU falls to 16-7 and 8-2 in conference play.


Next, the A-10 leading Xavier Musketeers will head to the City Of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, to take on St. Joseph's.  That game will be on Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET and you can catch the game on CBS College Sports.