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Xavier escapes Dayton with win

Feb 27, 2011 - 9:17 PM Dayton, OH (Sports Network) - Tu Holloway finished with a game-high 26 points and added six rebounds and five assists as No. 25 Xavier held on for a 66-62 win over Dayton in Atlantic-10 action.

Jamel McLean finished with 11 points and Mark Lyons added 10 for Xavier (22-6, 13-1 A-10), which was coming off a 100-62 drubbing of La Salle on Tuesday and has won seven in a row and 14 of 15 overall.

Chris Johnson hit 4-of-8 from three-point range and finished with a team-best 22 points with nine boards for Dayton (19-10, 7-7), which had a brief two-game winning streak halted and has dropped three of its last five. Paul Williams made 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and ended with 13 points in defeat.

Ahead by a seemingly comfortable 37-25 lead at the half, Holloway's jumper with 11:48 remaining had the Musketeers ahead 46-35 before Dayton started to chip away at the deficit and get back in the game.

Josh Benson finished off a fast break with a dunk to get Dayton within seven with 8:47 left, then his three-point play with just under five minutes to go sliced the deficit to 55-50.

Holloway answered with a pair of free throws a short time later to put the visitors up by seven, but Williams' layup and three-pointer made it a 57-55 game with 3:40 remaining.

A pair of Lyons' free throws a short time later put the Musketeers up by four before a jumper by Juwan Staten and two makes at the line by Johnson tied things at 59-all with 1:48 on the clock.

However, Holloway took over from there, draining a pair of free throws, then a triple for a 64-59 Xavier lead with only 42 seconds left and the Musketeers would not let the game get away from there

McLean's dunk nearly six minutes into the contest, gave Xavier a 18-6 lead.

Jeff Robinson then capped a 10-3 burst with a pair of free throws to up the Musketeers advantage to double-digits, 29-17, with 6:03 before the break.

A Robinson dunk with 35 seconds remaining gave Xavier a 37-25 lead heading into the locker room.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Dayton is still 82-72 in the all-time series against Xavier, but the Musketeers have won 11 of the last 13 meetings.