Xavier Holds Off Drexel in Anaheim, 69-65

Friday, November 23

Anaheim, Calif.

6:00

Drexel University

1-4

Xavier

4-1

Xavier

Drexel

Photo by: Dr. Eric Zillmer

11/23/2012 7:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Anaheim, Calif. - Damion Lee and Frantz Massenat combined for 37 points, but Drexel lost to Xavier in its second game in the DirecTV Classic in Anaheim, 69-65. The Dragons will face Rice on Sunday in the finale of the tournament at 4 p.m. EST.

Drexel (1-4) trailed by just a point with 1:23 to play after Tavon Allen threw an inbound pass from underneath the Xavier basket to Daryl McCoy who scored on a lay-up. The Musketeers (4-1) answered when Semaj Christon scored on a jumper over a Drexel defender. He finished with a game-high 23 points. Drexel came back down court and had a chance to tie but Damion Lee's three-pointer just missed. Xavier rebounded, came down court but missed a three of its own and Drexel had what looked like the last possession. The Dragons inbounded the ball in front of their bench to Dartaye Ruffin, who tried to feed the inbounder, but the ball went out of bounds. Xavier sank the first of two free throws, then grabbed the offensive board to earn a 69-65 win.

Lee led Drexel with 19 points. He missed the previous two games with an injury. Frantz Massenat added 18 points and has his best shooting game of the young season, making eight of his 13 attempts. Tavon Allen came off the bench to score 13 points in only 17 minutes. Allen was 4-for-6 from the floor and made two three-pointers. Offense wasn't the problem for Drexel, who shot 55 percent in the game and made eight three-pointers.

Christon was 10-for-14 shooting and also had six assists to lead Xavier. The team shot 51 percent from the floor and made all but two of their 18 attempts from the line. The Dragons were outrebounded for the second straight day (27-19) and had only nine rebounds from their forwards.

Drexel will try to salvage a win in the DirecTV Classic on Sunday. The Dragons game with Rice can be seen on ESPN3.