CINCINNATI, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A 22-point effort from Mark Lyons Friday sent No. 15 Xavier to a tougher-than-expected, 74-63 victory over Morgan State.
Lyons needed 17 shots to score his 22 points and Xavier hit 49 percent of its attempts from the field against the Bears.
Morgan State trailed by just five at halftime after holding as much as a 20-10 lead early in the game. The Bears stayed in the contest thanks in part to Xavier hitting only half its 24 shots from the foul line.
Dezmine Wells added 12 points for the Musketeers and Kenny Frease had 10. Xavier lost in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last season and is the highest-ranked team in the Atlantic 10 Conference this year.
Morgan State, which had a 17-14 record last season, was led by Kevin Thompson with 14 points and nine rebounds.
