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No. 24 Xavier pulls away to beat Saint Joe's

Feb 17, 2011 - 2:32 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Mark Lyons scored 24 points, Kenny Frease had 17 and No. 24 Xavier used a big run midway through the game to pull away for a 74-54 victory over Atlantic 10 foe Saint Joseph's.

Tu Holloway added 14 points for the conference-leading Musketeers (19-6, 10-1 A-10), who pushed their winning streak to four games.

The Hawks (7-18, 2-9) returned to the loss column after snapping a nine-game skid with back-to-back wins over Massachusetts and Fordham. They were led by 13 points from Idris Hilliard and 11 from Langston Galloway.

Saint Joe's kept it close in the first half and had a five-point lead inside eight minutes after Charoy Bentley's jumper made it 20-15.

But Xavier came back and carried a 34-27 lead into halftime -- the last three points coming in the final second when Holloway was fouled behind the three- point line by Galloway and made all three shots at the line.

It was part of a 19-2 Musketeers run that spanned the first and second half and gave them a 40-27 lead on Holloway's jumper 3 1/2 minutes into the second.

Hilliard ended the run with a three-pointer, pulling the Hawks within 10 points, but they were never closer than eight in the final 16 minutes of the game as Xavier remained in control.

Game Notes

Saint Joe's still leads the all-time series 21-18...The Hawks remained at 1,500 wins after becoming the 35th program to reach the plateau against Fordham on Sunday...Carl Jones had just six points for the Hawks, only the second time this season their leading scorer was held to single digits...Saint Joe's hasn't beaten a top-25 team since knocking off Xavier twice during a two-week span in the 2007-08 season...The Musketeers are trying to win at least a share of the A-10 regular-season championship for the fifth straight year.