PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mark Lyons scored 24 points, Kenny Frease had 17 points and 10 rebounds and No. 24 Xavier beat Saint Joseph’s 74-54 on Wednesday night.
The Musketeers (19-6, 10-1 Atlantic 10) won their fourth straight and are in first place with five games left before the conference tournament. Xavier moved into The Associated Press’ college basketball poll this week for the first time this season.
The Musketeers used a 12-1 run in the second half to pull away from the lowly Hawks (7-18, 2-9).
Idris Hilliard led the Hawks with 13 points.
Lyons kept driving past the Hawks for easy layups and fell one shy of his career high point total. He set the tone for an Xavier team that took few outside shots the second half. Xavier attacked for buckets and made 17 of 18 free throws.
