Xavier comes up three players short

ALL THE THREE players could do was sit and watch one of the worst moments in Xavier's recent basketball history.

Dominique Morrison scored 19 points, leading visiting Oral Roberts to a 64-42 victory over previously unbeaten Xavier, which couldn't do much with three of its starters sitting on the bench because of suspensions.

The eighth-ranked Musketeers (8-1) didn't have point guard Tu Holloway, shooting guard Mark Lyons or freshman forward Dez Wells, who account for 40 percent of their points. The trio was suspended for the brawl against crosstown rival Cincinnati.

"We just weren't ourselves today on both offense and defense," coach Chris Mack said.

The depleted lineup couldn't get in sync or keep up with the experienced Golden Eagles (8-4), who knew they had a good opportunity with Xavier shorthanded.

"Full strength, it might have been a different game, but they weren't here to play so we don't know," Morrison said. "We can't control what happened last week. We could only control what happened on the court today."

Travis Taylor scored 11 points for Xavier, which lost for only the second time in the last 46 games at the Cintas Center. It was the Musketeers' worst home loss since an 80-49 defeat to La Salle on Jan. 23, 2000 at Cincinnati Gardens.

At Missouri, Michael Dixon scored a career-high 30 points and No. 10 Missouri (11-0) beat William & Mary, 94-56, for its best start in two decades. The Tigers jumped to a 19-0 lead over the Tribe (2-9), who didn't score until nearly 12 minutes into the game.

* At Hartford, Conn., freshman Andre Drummond scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds as No. 9 Connecticut (9-1) scored a 77-40 win over Holy Cross (4-7).

* At Washington, Nate Wolters scored 34 points as South Dakota State (10-4) broke Washington's (5-5) 32-game non-conference home winning streak with a 92-73 victory.

At Baylor, Brittney Griner had 25 points, 9 rebounds and 9 blocks as top-ranked Baylor (11-0) beat No. 2 Connecticut (9-1), 66-61.