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Lyons, Wells Lead Muskie Attack Against Morgan State
11/11/2011
 | | Freshman Dez Wells goes in for a spectacular one-handed dunk.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Mark Lyons gets fouled as he drives the lane. Lyons led all scorers with 22 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Brad Redford marked his return by hitting two, three pointers.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Jeff Robinson goes above the defense to collect two of his eight points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Mark Lyons cuts in front of Morgan State’s Justin Black for one of his three steals.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
With Tu Holloway sitting on the end of the bench in sweats, serving a one game suspension, someone had to step up against the Morgan State Bears. And for the first 15 or so minutes of the game, no one did. The Musketeers stumbled and looked lost without their senior point guard. There were turnovers, loose balls that the Muskies couldn't get to, and poor effort in rebounding. It looked a lot like the sloppy Xavier team that showed up for most of the game against Bellarmine. And with Kenny Frease in foul trouble, Xavier turned to their junior guard to save them.
"Without Tu on the court scoring, I had to get my teammates involved," Mark Lyons said, "I had to put my teammates in a position to score."
If anyone was going to step up for Xavier, it had to be Lyons. And it was. Coming off a terrific exhibition game, Lyons produced another all around solid effort, leading all scorers with 22 points, while also grabbing 7 rebounds and tallying 6 assists. But as good of a game as Lyons played, the most important part of his game was that he made everyone around him better - something that Tu Holloway is known for. And that was the difference in a 74-63 victory.
"When you have a playmaker like that, you got to be able to let him make some plays, because he makes everyone else better," Coach Chris Mack said, "He's done an excellent job of being under control, finishing, finding guys when they're open. We just need him to maintain that type of play throughout the season."
Lyons and freshman Dez Wells teamed up to do most of the heavy lifting for the Xavier offense, which had a very efficient night again, shooting 49.1% from the field and 42.9% from beyond the arc. And with the Muskies struggling, Wells and Lyons hooked up on an ESPN top 10 plays type of moment. Trailing for most of the first half, Lyons found Wells for an electrifying one handed dunk that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Considering that the fans seemed to be anxious for much of the half, the fact they were behind their team again seemed to spur the Muskies on. They never looked back.
"Well," Dez Wells said with a smile, "It was a great pass from Mark Lyons. You know, I know my athleticism and I told Mark in the shootaround if he threw that pass, just let me go get it. And he did just that. It was an incredible result."
Building on the energy in the Cintas Center, Brad Redford made his regular season return, and drilled a pair of threes in a row, after missing his first shot. Of course, the crowd favorite got a raucous ovation and cheer each time.
"We knew they were gonna play a little bit of zone, and we feel like we have some players that have some pretty good court vision, try to get him into some spots where we can get him open," Mack said, "I knew if he could make one, he wasn't going to miss again."
Finally hitting all gears on offense, Xavier went on a 23-9 run to end the half, storming back to a 40-35 lead. Then, they blew it open with a 14-2 run to open the second half. The Muskies pushed their lead to as large as 18 at one point, and played much better in the second, after having been down by 10 in the first half at one point to the Bears.
And it was a grind it out kind of night. Kenny Frease fouled out, finishing with 10 points in just 21 minutes. Andre Walker had 7, and Jeff Robinson 6. It took a team effort, and a much more focused Xavier team in the second half to put Morgan State away.
While it was a solid win team win for now, the game also provided a glimpse into the future. Tu Holloway could be seen talking to freshman Dee Davis on the sideline at one point. It was the kind of thing you love to see happen between the young kid and the veteran star. Tonight, Davis played like a veteran, not a freshman playing in his first ever regular season college game. He was vocal and ran the offense efficiently, only turning the ball over once. When he was on the court, he ran point over Lyons for the most part. That Mack and the rest of the team trusts a young kid so much says a lot.
"He's the consummate point guard," Mack stated, "He's a floor general. I think he thinks pass first, find my teammate.
"I love Dee. He's a tough kid, he's a bit undersized. But a year from now, you're going to see a point guard who really knows how to set his teammates up and run the show. And he's learning from two really good ones right now."
If Davis and Wells can provide the kind of efforts they did tonight, and team up with Lyons, who is quickly becoming a go to guy, Xavier will have a potent attack that's difficult to stop this year.
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