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Brown's late tip-in rescues Xavier

Feb 8, 2008 - 6:32 AM ST LOUIS (Ticker) -- Derrick Brown saved Xavier from a late collapse.

Brown's tip-in with under a second to play lifted the 14th-ranked Musketeers to a 70-68 victory over Saint Louis in an Atlantic 10 Conference thriller on Thursday.

Josh Duncan had 15 points and Drew Lavender added 13 for Xavier, which led by nine with under two minutes to play.

But the Billikens fought back and, after Kevin Lisch made his sixth 3-pointer of the game - third in the final minute, the Musketeers' lead was cut to 66-65 with 27 seconds remaining.

B.J. Raymond made a pair of free throws but Lisch answered again with a three-point play, tying the game at 68-68 with 11 seconds to go and setting the stage for Xavier.

After a timeout, Lavender took the inbounds pass and dribbled up the floor, driving to his left. The senior's lefthanded layup was off the mark but Brown was right there for the follow, tipping the ball in with his right hand with one-tenths of a second left and giving Xavier the win.

Brown was one of five Musketeers in double figures with 12 points and nine rebounds. Stanley Burrell also had 12 points and C.J. Anderson chipped in 11 for Xavier (19-4, 7-1 A-10), which improved to 16-0 when at least four players score in double figures.

Lisch finished with 25 points - 12 in the final 52 seconds - and shot 6-of-9 from the arc for the Billikens, who had won three straight home games over the Musketeers coming into the contest.

Saint Louis (12-10, 3-5) led only once at 13-12, but Xavier responded with a 17-2 spurt - with four players scoring at least four points - to take a commanding 29-15 bulge with 4:17 left in the first half.

The Musketeers took a 35-22 lead into the locker room much in part to 56 percent (15-of-27) shooting, while the Billikens connected on just 27 percent (6-of-22) in the first half.

Saint Louis scored the first seven points of the second half to close within six but Xavier later had a 7-0 spurt of its own to push the lead back up to 46-33 with 12:30 remaining.

However, the Billikens would not go away and cut the deficit to 55-52 on a 3-pointer by Barry Eberhardt, capping a 10-0 run with 5:08 left. The Musketeers then scored the next six points to take a 61-52 lead with 2:12 to play.