No. 10 Xavier heads to the Sweet Sixteen after defeating No. 15 Lehigh 70-58

 

Courtesy of GoXavier.com.

GREENSBORO, N.C. –A career-high effort from Kenny Frease and a record-setting performance by Tu Holloway propelled No. 10 Xavier over No. 15 Lehigh, 70-58, en route to the Sweet Sixteen. This will be Xavier’s fifth time to at least the Sweet Sixteen in nine seasons.

With the win the Musketeers improve to 23-12, while the Mountain Hawks fall to 27-8.

Frease scored a career-high 25 points off a career-best 11-of-13 shooting effort. The senior hauled in 12 rebounds for his 12th double-double of his career. Frease is now tied with Jim Boothe for 41st on Xavier’s all-time scoring leaders list with 1,085 career points. In his previous seven NCAA Tournament games, Frease had only scored 33 total points. In the games vs. Notre Dame and Lehigh, Frease posted 35.

Holloway chipped in 21 points off 4-of-8 shooting from downtown. With his free throw at the 1:02 mark in the second half, Holloway set a school record for career free throws. Holloway now has 665, the previous record was 662 held by 2003 National Player of the Year and current Indiana Pacer David West.

Junior Jeff Robinson hauled in a career-high eight boards to help Xavier win the battle of the boards 43-36. Freshman Dee Davis provided great minutes for Xavier and tied his career-high in 3-point field goals with two early in the first half. It was Davis’ first trey since the Charlotte game on Jan. 28.

For the game Xavier shot 44.4 percent to Lehigh’s 32.8 percent. In the second half, the Musketeers shot 42.3 percent to the Mountain Hawks’ 14.7 percent.

The Musketeers ended the first half on a 14-4 run over the last 3:29 off two Holloway 3-pointers and one from Lyons to cut the Mountain Hawks’ lead to 37-33 heading into the locker rooms. Xavier would out-score Lehigh 37-21 in the second half.

Xavier won the points in the paint battle, 32-26, points off turnovers 17-14 and bench points 12-9. Lehigh held the advantage in second chance points 13-10 and fast break points 7-4.

Lehigh was led by Mackey McKnight and C.J. MacCollum who had 20 and 14 points respectively.

Xavier will face third-seed Baylor in the Sweet 16 at 7:15 p.m. ET on Friday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The game will be aired on CBS. Stay tuned to GoXavier.com for more information.