Jeremiah Tilmon recorded his third double-double of the season, and Missouri held Xavier without a field goal for more than nine minutes to start the second half as the Tigers defeated the Musketeers 71-56 on Tuesday night in Columbia, Mo.

Missouri (7-3) took a 41-27 lead into halftime and pushed the advantage to 54-31 thanks to the inside play of Tilmon and the outside shooting of Jordan Geist and Mark Smith during the Musketeers' drought.

Kyle Castlin finally ended Xavier's dry spell with a layup at the 10:39 mark, but the Tigers answered with an 8-0 run to leave no doubt.

Tilmon led the Tigers with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Smith and Geist each finished with 13 points.

Quentin Goodin scored 21 points to lead the Musketeers, who shot just 34.8 percent (8 of 23) in the second half. The Tigers weren't much better in the second half, connecting on just 10 of 28 attempts (35.7 percent).

Missouri had its highest-scoring first half of the season. The Tigers were led before the break by Tilmon's 12 points and seven rebounds.

Missouri had a hot hand from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes, sinking 6 of 15 attempts (40 percent) while the Musketeers struggled making only 3 of 11 (27.3 percent).

Xavier was led by Goodin, who scored nine first-half points. The Musketeers committed 11 turnovers before halftime that the Tigers turned into 12 points.

Xavier (7-5) committed just six turnovers in the second half.

Goodin's dunk put the Musketeers up 9-3 at the 14:28 mark. Xavier's next basket would come with 9:24 left in the half after Missouri scored 17 straight.

Xavier cut the deficit to six, but Illinois transfer Smith connected on a 3-pointer to ignite a mini-run that would give the Tigers their largest lead of the half at 39-23.

--Field Level Media