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No. 11 Xavier rallies past Purdue

Dec 4, 2011 - 1:29 AM Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Tu Holloway scored the final 11 Xavier points, and the 11th-ranked Musketeers rallied from early poor ball-handling and a sizeable second-half deficit to beat the Purdue Boilermakers, 66-63, at Cintas Center.

Xavier faced a 19-point deficit at 55-36 with 10:44 remaining after Purdue's Robbie Hummel and Ryne Smith nailed back-to-back three-pointers. The Musketeers closed to within 60-55 before Holloway nailed consecutive threes to give Xavier its first lead since Andre Walker opened the game with a layup.

After a Hummel free throw tied the game at 61-61, Holloway knocked down another trey and sank two foul shots to restore Xavier's three-point advantage at 66-63 with 21.7 seconds left. Lewis Jackson and Terone Johnson both missed from long distance in the waning moments as Xavier (6-0) extended its home winning streak to 13 straight.

"I'm just startled with how [the game] ended," said Xavier head coach Chris Mack. "Very fortunate to win. We were as bad as bad could be in the first half."

Holloway finished with 21 points and Mark Lyons scored 14 for the Musketeers, who committed 18 turnovers in a forgettable first half.

Hummel had 17 points and seven rebounds for Purdue (7-2), but battled cramps down the stretch. Jackson supplied 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in defeat.

Purdue got off to a tremendous start, opening the game on a 14-2 run. A Jackson layup stretch the lead to 22-6, and the Boilermakers maintained a 16- point advantage when two Jackson free throws made it 31-15 with less than four minutes to go in the first half.

Xavier scored the next seven points to trim its deficit to single digits, but Hummel's tip-in of a Jackson miss put Purdue up 33-22 at the break.

While both teams shot 44 percent during the opening 20 minutes, turnovers were clearly the biggest difference-maker.

Game Notes

Xavier is enjoying its best start since opening the 2008-09 season with nine straight wins...The Musketeers have won 43 of their last 44 home games...Purdue still leads the series 9-5, although Xavier has won the last four meetings...The Boilermakers entered Saturday with a 15-game winning streak in the month of December...Xavier shot 54 percent for the game, while Purdue made 41 percent of its shots...The Musketeers committed just four second-half turnovers...Walker and Kenny Frease scored 10 points apiece for Xavier.