On the heels of a mild upset and a bit of good fortune, the No. 10 seed Xavier Musketeers find themselves in the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years.
At least technically speaking, Xavier was the underdog when it went up against No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the first round. But the Musketeers, led by Tu Holloway's 25 points, overcame a 10-point deficit with less than 13 minutes to play, outscoring the Irish 29-15 down the stretch. That was the upset.
The good fortune came when Lehigh -- which finished second place in the regular-season Patriot League standings -- ousted Duke in the rare No. 15 seed victory, just the sixth time a No. 15 seed had won an opening-round game. (No. 15 Norfolk State also notched a win this season, downing No. 2 Missouri.)
Evidenced by the 75-70 win over the Blue Devils, Lehigh is no pushover. But it was still advantageous -- on paper at least -- to play the Mountain Hawks instead of the Blue Devils. Lehigh raced out to a 35-20 lead before the Musketeers battled back to score the 70-58 victory. Holloway had 21, while senior center Kenny Frease led the way with 25 points (on 13 attempts) and 12 rebounds.
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