Jan. 18, 2009

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CINCINNATI (AP) -B.J. Raymond scored 16 points, hitting long shots over La Salle's zone defense, and No. 15 Xavier relied on its offensive balance to beat the Explorers 73-53 on Sunday and remain unbeaten atop the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Xavier (15-2, 4-0) has won six in a row since a home-court loss to Butler on Dec. 23, with its freshmen blending in better as the season goes along.

La Salle (9-7, 1-2) was coming off a 68-61 win over Charlotte on Wednesday that moved the Explorers three games over .500 for the first time in two years. They never led against Xavier, which squeezed the momentum out of La Salle in the first half with its halfcourt defense.

Yves Mekongo Mbala and Rodney Green led La Salle with 15 points apiece.

Xavier showed offensive balance against La Salle's zone defense, getting the ball inside for easy baskets and going 8-of-17 from behind the 3-point arc. Raymond went 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Derrick Brown added 15 points, slicing inside the zone defense with acrobatic moves.

The main problem for Xavier: free throws. Xavier went only 19-of-36 from the line, allowing La Salle to hang in after falling behind by 22 early in the second half.

The Musketeers set the tone defensively on the first possession of the game, forcing a shot clock violation. Ruben Guillandeaux was dribbling beyond the arc when the clock ran out.

Xavier took control with a 12-1 run in the first half that featured a four-point play by Terrell Holloway - Green slammed into him after his on-target shot from beyond the arc - and acrobatic baskets by Brown, who used his quickness to get inside La Salle's zone defense. Brown had a putback, a turnaround bank shot and a lay-in after he drove the baseline and made a 360-degree spin move to get free.

The Musketeers led by as many as 19 in the first half and were up 39-22 at the break, matching La Salle's lowest-scoring half of the season. The Explorers had more turnovers (10) than field goals (9) in the half.

Raymond hit a pair of 3s early in the second half that helped Xavier extend the lead to 22 points. La Salle never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.

Green, the Explorers' leading scorer at 15.4 points per game, picked up his fourth foul with 17:42 to go.