CINCINNATI –The No. 11 Xavier Musketeers battled back from a 19-point deficit to defeat the Purdue Boilermakers 66-63 in front of a sold out crowd at Cintas Center Saturday afternoon. Senior Tu Holloway was clutch down the stretch, draining three treys in the waning minutes of the half to lead all scorers with 21 points.
Holloway, who only had four points at half time, scored 17 in the second frame off of 4-of-7 shooting and going 3-of-4 from downtown. Holloway continued to be reliable from the charity stripe, going a nearly perfect 8-of-9 for the game.
Three other Musketeers were in double figures as well, with Mark Lyons scoring 14 and Kenny Frease and Andre Walker each contributing 10 points. Lyons and Travis Taylor led the Musketeers on the glass with six rebounds each.
The Musketeers would finish the game shooting 53.7 percent from the floor to the Boilermakers’ 41.1 percent. XU out-rebounded Purdue 38-29 and scored 28 points in the paint to Purdue’s 26. Xavier took better care of the ball in the second half only having four turnovers for 22 total team turnovers.
The second half began much like the first frame, with Purdue pushing its lead to as many as 19 with under 11 minutes left to play. Xavier held Purdue without a field goal for the last 6:26 of the game, going on a 23-6 run to finish the game.
XU’s come back started at the 7:48 mark off of a layup from Walker. After the media timeout Justin Martin converted on a trey to bring the Purdue lead to 11 with under seven minutes. A shot from downtown by Lyons would cut the Boilermakers’ lead to 10. Xavier would take the 61-60 lead off of a Holloway trey at the 1:05 mark. A Robbie Hummel free throw would tie things back up but Holloway came down the floor and drained another three-pointer to put the score at 64-61 with 39 seconds. The Musketeers would not look back as free throws by Holloway sealed the victory.
The Boilermakers started off the first half going on a 14-2 run and holding the Musketeers without a field goal for over six minutes. Purdue would hit its largest lead of the half, 16, at the 8:56 mark off of a jumper from Lewis Jackson. Xavier would chip away at the lead the rest of the half cutting it as close to nine off of a layup from Holloway.
The Musketeers went on a 7-2 run to end the first half off of a trey from Redford, a layup from Frease and a coast-to-coast layup from Holloway. Purdue’s Robbie Hummel had a tip-in as time expired to bring the score to 33-22 as both squads headed into the locker rooms for intermission.
Xavier had 18 turnovers in the first half, and Purdue capitalized by scoring 14 points. Both teams were almost identical from the floor in the first frame with the Boilermakers shooting 44.4 percent and the Musketeers converting 43.8 percent of the time.
With the win Xavier remains a perfect 6-0 on the season, while the Boilermakers fall to 7-2.
The men’s team is back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 7 as it travels to Butler to take on the Bulldogs at 9 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Stay tuned to GoXavier.com for more information on Xavier basketball.
Leave a Reply