DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — For almost 33 minutes of Saturday's Nov. 29 game with nationally ranked Xavier, the Miami RedHawks were looking to pull off the upset.

Instead, the host Musketeers rode the talents of the team's big three — Dayton product Derrick Brown, C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond — to rally to a 60-53 win.

Brown, who attended Chaminade-Julienne High School, turned in a career-high 23-point scoring effort to lead the way, but it wasn't until Raymond drained a 3-pointer with 7:24 left in the game that Xavier grabbed its first lead of the game. The Musketeers would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way. Xavier outscored the road-weary RedHawks 36-26 in the second half.

"I think it all happened with about seven minutes to go in the game," Miami coach Charlie Coles said. "They got a lot of energy for about a four-minute span, and they were getting a lot of shots at the basket at that time. Their energy for those minutes just kind of threw us off, I think. We couldn't respond like we wanted to."

A 10-4 run midway through the second half gave Xavier the lead, then a 12-2 run late in the second half put the Musketeers in control with its first double-digit lead of the contest, 59-49, with about 30 seconds left to play.

Coles credited Xavier's aggressiveness, especially in the second half, for the come-from-behind win.

"They were getting a lot of free throws. They're an aggressive team. ... I've always found that the team that's the most aggressive is the team that makes the more free throws. They went to the line (38) times, we settled for some jump shots."

Xavier is now 6-0 and ranked 16th in the most recent Associated Press men's college basketball poll. In each of those six contests, the Muskies have made more free throws than their opponents have attempted.

In this one, Xavier hit on 22-of-38 attempts, while Miami struggled to get to the line. The RedHawks hit only 10-of-16 tries.

"Thirty eight free throws, and 12 offensive rebounds, and nine of those were in the second half. I think that's more of the kind of effort we give (than the first half)," Xavier coach Sean Miller said. "Free throws are really important in our game right now."

To go with Brown's 23, Raymond finished with 13 and Anderson added 11.

"I don't think we did anything different in the game," Miami's Michael Bramos said, "but they played better in the second half. Their free throws helped get them back in the game. The free throws and the offensive rebounds did us in."

Northmont grad Kenny Hayes led Miami (2-3) with 19 points, and Bramos finished with 15.

Bramos gave the RedHawks a momentum boost to close out the first half. He drained a buzzer-beating trey from the left wing to give Miami a 27-24 halftime lead.

The RedHawks return to action on Wednesday in Philadelphia against Temple for their seventh, and final, season-opening road game. Miami has yet to play a home game this season.

Xavier also returns to the court that day, a home affair with Auburn.