Xavier Beats the Mastodons of Indiana Purdue at Fort Wayne 86-63

The IPFW team isn't knicknamed the Mastodons because they start three seniors.  When excavation was done during campus construction, bones from a mastodon was discovered and the team was named after them.

The bones of the team was strewn over the Cintas Center in the wake of the Xavier Musketeers 86-63 win over IPFW.

Preseason All-American Tu Holloway returned from his one-game suspension to add more experience to Xavier's lineup.

For the second game in a row, Mark Lyons, scored over 20 points with 21.  He was second to Holloway who tallied game-high 24.  Freshman Dezmine Wells added 16 points.  Kenny Frease blocked six shots, a career high.

Wells hit a 3-pointer to give Xavier a quick 5-2 lead and Holloway hit another to make it 10-6.

"We allowed Holloway and Wells to hit shots early," IPFW coach, Tony Jasik said.  "You can't come in here and allow them to his shots early and feel good about themselves.

Lyons had just two points at halftime but tallied 19 after the break.  Holloway scored most of his points in the second half.

"I was trying to get my teammates in position to score.  I don't have to score like I did last season.  My teammates were scoring and we were winning," Holloway said.  He dished out six assists for the game.

Xavier led by 14 at the break, 36-22 but the Mastodons scored 40 in the second half.  Junior Frank Gaines led IPFW with 22 points but was 5-for-22 from the field.

"If a guy scores 22 on you but has to take 22 shots to do it so be it," Xavier coach Chris Mack said.  "We made some improvements from last game but I don't like the way we finished and we didn't handle their pressure very well."

IPFW forced four turnovers in the last four minutes as freshmen, Wells and Dee Davis were bothered by the Mastodon's press.

"We don't press very often.  Maybe we should use it a little more," Jasik said.  "Early in the year, you can't work on everything.  They'll (Xavier) will be fine."