Xavier Beats Cincinnati in Shootout

There will be a post on the post game fight shortly, but let’s just cover the game. 

Xavier proved too athletic and too tough defensively for the Cincinnati Bearcats today, winning 76-53. The first half was very intense. The teams came out tight. There were several ties and lead changes. Things turned late in the half though. Xavier went on a 10-0 run, and a 12-2 run to close the half, powered by 5 from Mark Lyons. Tu Holloway made his only FG of the half, a 3, to put Xavier in front. A layup and a transition layup made it a 6 point game. That drew a Cronin timeout. UC came back and turned it over, which led to a Lyons 3. Xavier finished the run with FTs. UC got a Mbodj layup to put us at the margin. At the whistle, Lyons got into it with the UC bench. Ocatvius Ellis approached him and we had a pull apart. Nothing was called and we went into the half with X up 34-25. Lyons led all scorers with 14. Gates had 10-8 for UC. Cincinnati went from 6:23 to 59 seconds without a FG and only 2 points. 

Xavier started the second half with a 9-2 run with 8 points in the paint and 4 second chance points, to get the margin to 16. It stayed there most of the half. UC couldn’t break down the Xavier defense. Dez Wells and Justin Martin did a great job on Sean Kilpatrick, holding Killa to 3-12 shooting. Dion Dixon was only 4-16 from the field. Yancy Gates had 16-12. No one on UC could stick Mark Lyons, who had 19. Tu Holloway finished with 17, and was unstoppable in the second half. Kenny Frease had a big second half, finishing with a double double. 

Obviously the end of the game was marred by an ugly fight. I’ll have a breakdown later. Box score from ESPN