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Holloway, Lyons Lead Muskies to Comeback Victory
11/28/2011
Trailing for most of the second half, and by as many as 10, Xavier was looking for answers. And a hero. With Kenny Frease and Dez Wells largely made afterthoughts in the game, it was up to Xavier's elite tandem of guards to bring them back in the 82-70 OT thriller. They needed it even more after Mark Lyons and Tu Holloway had combined for only 7 points in the first half. For the two leading scorers on the team, that could not happen. Xavier could not survive on the road against a ranked Vanderbilt team without their best players playing well. For one half, they didn't, and Xavier hung in there.
But when push came to shove in the second half, and the Muskies dug a ten point hole, Lyons and Holloway took over. An enormous 13-3 run by Xavier dug them back out of that hole - led by Lyons who scored 9 points in that run. Mark finished with 19 huge points, including the game tying layup as he knifed through the lane with about 7 seconds left in the second half.
Lyons and Holloway also set the tone defensively, with 7 steals between the two. The Muskies defense held Vanderbilt to 11 combined points over the final 8 minutes of the second half and the 5 minute overtime period. The defense that smothered Georgia for much of the game last Friday reared its' head again. They forced Vandy into 18 turnovers for the game, while the Commodores committed 20 fouls trying to defend Xavier's attack.
But for as good as Xavier's defense played in stretches, and as well as Mark Lyons was, the Musketeers needed someone else to come up big. Andre Walker struggled in his homecoming, going just 3 of 11 from the field. He did pull down 14 big rebounds, though, as Xavier out-rebounded the Commodores 48-30. They also cleaned up on the offensive glass, coming up with 20 offensive rebounds to Vandy's 8. Travis Taylor continued to build on his most recent performance, coming up with 11 and 7 off the bench. Other than that, the offense was extremely limited. Xavier struggled to get into a rhythm, save for a few moments. They ended up shooting just 37.8% from the field for the game.
Lacking a signature game from this year, and having failed in big time games last year, Tu Holloway turned it up in overtime. He scored 10 of his 24 points in the extra period, including a pair of enormous three pointers that really put the game out of reach. The threes were part of an 8-0 run to open the overtime possession, as the Muskies' defense clamped down, holding Vandy to just 4 points.
From there, it was a matter of hitting free throws. And that's been an issue for this team. Not tonight. Xavier went 20-27 from the line, while Vanderbilt attempted just 12 free throws all night. It ended up being a big difference in the game. Particularly for the cool shooting Holloway, who found himself there 10 times on the night, nailing 9.
And so Xavier closed out their first road win of the year in a place where only one of the last 25 non-conference opponents of Vanderbilt had won. It was a signature win for the Muskies, who may have a lot of them on their way to March, thanks to the efforts of Holloway and Lyons and a suffocating defense.
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