Final Stats

Hoffman Estates, Ill. --- The Xavier Musketeers used a 20-point game from Josh Duncan and the first career double-double from Derrick Brown to fuel a strong second half and put away the Kent State Golden Flashes 78-65 on Friday night at Sears Centre in the third round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Xavier will take on No. 8 Indiana in Saturday night's championship game at 7:30 p.m. Central Time.

Kent State controlled much of the first half action, grabbing a six-point, 23-17, lead at the eight-minute mark. Xavier chipped away at the Kent State lead and finally took a 29-28 lead when Adrion Graves sank a deep three-pointer with 2:41 left. After a pair of Kent free throws gave KSU the lead, C.J. Anderson's layup gave XU the lead back heading into intermission, 31-30. Josh Duncan led Xavier with 10 first-half points.

The Musketeers looked like a different team when they took the court in the second half.  A layup and a dunk by Derrick Brown set the tone for Xavier in the second half. When B.J. Raymond connected on a three-pointer with 15:27 left it completed a 13-4 run to start the second half, giving the Musketeers a 44-34 lead.

Xavier led the rest of the game but Kent State didn't go quietly, pulling to within three points at 46-43 with 12 minutes left. XU answered with a 10-2 run, which gave XU a 56-45 lead with 8:22 left when Duncan completed a three-point play after being fouled on a good jumper. A short time later a dunk by Brown and a free throw completed an old fashioned three-point play to put XU ahead 62-49 at the 6:36 mark.

The Golden Flashes made one last run, cutting the Xavier lead to six points, 66-60, with four minutes left. Drew Lavender ended any thoughts of a comeback by starting a 6-0 run, including four straight XU points on a pair of free throws and a driving layup the length of the court on successive possessions. Stanley Burrell finished off the run with a layup to give XU a 12-point, 72-60, lead with a little over two minutes left.

Duncan led four Musketeer double-figure scorers with 20 points, his fifth career 20-point game, while also contributing six rebounds, a career-high tying five assists and two blocks. Brown finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists. Lavender had 16 points and four assists. Raymond added 10 points.