Nov. 20, 2008

Box Score |  AP Photos 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Freshman Terrell Holloway went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final 1:21 as the Xavier University men's basketball team defeated Missouri in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Thursday. Holloway went 10-for-10 from the free throw line, all in the second half, finishing with 12 points overall.

Junior Derrick Brown led the Musketeers with 16 points, hitting 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe, where XU hit 30 of its 41 attempts. Sophomore Jamel McLean pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, helping the Musketeers to a 34-22 advantage on the boards.

Hitting 8-of-10 from the free throw line, senior B.J. Raymond was the only other Xavier player to reach double digits in scoring, finishing with 11 points.

Three Tigers were in double figures, led by the frontcourt duo of DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons, who finished with 17 and 15 points, respectively. J.T. Tiller tallied 13 points for Missouri, hitting two three-pointers and pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

Trailing by two points in the second half, Missouri went on an 11-4 run, capped with a free throw by Lyons with 7:04 to play that gave the Tigers a seven-point advantage. The Musketeers responded with four straight points to cut the deficit to three, 63-60, on a pair of Brown free throws.

The margin jumped between three and five points until Dante Jackson hit a three pointer with 2:13 on the clock to pull XU within one, 70-69. Just under a minute later, Holloway hit the first of his six consecutive free throws to tie the game. His second make from the charity stripe gave the Musketeers a one-point lead, which they never relinquished.

The teams battled back-and-forth in the first half, with neither squad able to get up by more than five points. That's where the margin stood with 3:09 to play in the half before junior Jason Love converted a layup to spark a seven-point Musketeer rally that ended with a pair of free throws by Raymond and XU up by two.

With the game tied at 32-32 and under half a minute remaining in the half, Jackson gave the Musketeers the lead going into the break with a three-pointer, his first of two treys in the game.

With the win, Xavier moves on to face Virginia Tech, which defeated Fairfield, 74-57, in its first-round contest, in the next round. The game is slated to begin at 1 p.m. ET.

Xavier Musketeers Men's Basketball

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