Xavier holds on for 8th straight win

Josh Duncan scored 23 points, B.J. Raymond added 14 and No. 10 Xavier overcame a furious second-half run to hold on for an 81-77 win over Rhode Island on Monday night.

The win was Xavier's eighth straight and the 14th in its last 15 games, helping the Musketeers maintain their grip on first place in the Atlantic 10 conference. It was the Musketeers' fifth straight win on the road.

Rhode Island opened the second-half on a 26-16 run after trailing by 10 at halftime. The Musketeers (22-4, 10-1 A-10) fell behind by 3 at one point in the second half, before taking the lead for good on a long-range jumper by Stanley Burrell with 5:48 left to play. A 3-pointer by Will Daniels with four seconds left put Rhode Island within 3, but Drew Lavender hit one of two free throws with 1.7 seconds on the clock to put the game out of reach.

Duncan had a perfect shooting night, hitting 8 of 8 field goals and all three 3-pointers he attempted.

Parfait Bitee scored 25 points and Will Daniels added 23 for Rhode Island (20-6, 6-5). The loss snapped the Rams' 11-game home winning streak.

Xavier used a 19-9 run late in the first half to take a 44-34 lead into halftime after being up by as many as 14 at the 3:42 mark.

Rhode Island last defeated a ranked opponent on Dec. 2, 1998, when the Rams beat then-No. 25 Utah 70-63. Rhode Island defeated Xavier the last time the teams played, a 79-71 win in the seminfinals of last season's A-10 conference championship.