Recap: Saint Louis vs. Xavier
Atlantic City, NJ (Sports Network) - Tu Holloway scored 21 points with five rebounds to help Xavier down Saint Louis, 71-64, in an A-10 semifinal.
Dezmine Wells had 18 points and Mark Lyons added 14 points and six rebounds for the Musketeers (21-11), who will be going for their fifth A-10 championship and first since 2006.
Xavier will face St. Bonaventure, which defeated Massachusetts 84-80, in the final on Sunday.
Brian Conklin had 14 points, Dwayne Evans added 11 points and eight rebounds while Kwamain Mitchell donated 10 points and nine assists for the Billikens (25-7), who defeated La Salle on Friday in the quarterfinals.
Mitchell hit consecutive three-pointers to start the game and a pair of free throws from Cody Ellis nine minutes in gave Saint Louis a 15-8 lead.
Xavier chipped away at the lead and Wells' jumper with just under four minutes left tied the game at 21-all.
The Musketeers scored the next six points and that helped them eventually take a 29-23 lead into the break.
Holloway hit a pair of three-pointers, sandwiched by a Kenny Frease free throw, to give Xavier a 36-23 lead early in the second half.
The lead was cut to three points with nine minutes to play on a pair of free throws from Conklin and an Evans tip-in a bit later made it a 50-49 game.
It stayed close for the next several minutes, but after Ellis hit a three-pointer to cut the Musketeers' lead to 65-62, Saint Louis didn't make a basket till the final seconds of the game as Xavier hit all its free throws down the stretch.
Game Notes