Big Men Carry Baylor Past Xavier ATLANTA - Baylor walked on the floor Friday night in uniforms that looked as if they required batteries. They were a loud lime green, but they were still not as loud as the dunks and the message sent by the Bears" Perry Jones III and Quincy Acy. The Bears" big men, whose toughness has been questioned this season in tight games, made play after play - or dunk after dunk - as Baylor held off the tournament's best comeback team, Xavier, in a South Region semifinal. The 6-foot-7 Acy made 8 of 11 shots and scored 20 points and the 6-11 Jones was 7 for 8 from the field and scored 14 as the Bears beat the Musketeers, 75-70, in the Georgia Dome. Still, Xavier was not put away easily. The Musketeers trailed, 67-54, with 2 minutes 20 seconds to play before they stormed back to within 3, at 71-68, with 22 seconds left. The Bears sharpshooter Brady Heslip then made four straight free throws to hold off Xavier (23-13), which had rallied in the tournament to defeat Notre Dame and Lehigh. Tu Holloway led Xavier with 22 points. Baylor (30-7) will play the winner of the second semifinal between No. 1 Kentucky and Indiana on Sunday. Baylor led, 49-44, when Acy and Jones re-entered the game with 10:23 remaining after sitting with three fouls. Jones immediately made an impact, taking a lob and dunking. On Baylor's next trip down the court, Xavier tried to front him. He caught another lob and scored. Xavier's best weapon was much shorter, the 6-1 Mark Lyons. He drove and drove, unafraid of the Bears" size. Baylor could not pull away as Lyons scored on drives and a jump shot on three straight possessions. Xavier was down by only 55-50 with 8:11 to play. But when Acy got involved with Jones, Xavier could not cope with both Baylor big men. Acy knocked down Xavier's Kenny Frease for a dunk, then came back on the next possession with another slam, and the score was 59-50 with 5:37 to play. Baylor stretched its lead to 67-54, but the Musketeers battled back to within two possessions, at 69-63, with 31 seconds left. The Bears took the floor in eye-popping uniforms that their maker says are 40 percent lighter, and it looked as if they were going fly right past Xavier. Baylor raced to a 22-4 lead in the first 7:26, hitting 10 of its first 12 shots. The game abruptly changed after Acy threw down a dunk with 5:21 left in the first half to give Baylor a 33-16 lead. At the other end of the floor, a charged-up Acy threw down Frease under the basket and was called for a flagrant foul. Frease made the two free throws and then a short baseline jumper, and Xavier was off on a 13-0 run to cut the Baylor lead to 33-29. The 275-pound Frease dealt with the size of the Baylor big men (Jones, Acy and the 6-9 Quincy Miller) by using his girth to push inside for position. He had 12 first-half points, shooting 5 of 7 from the field. One of the Bears" problems during the season was answering opponents" runs, and they did not answer the Musketeers" charge for almost five minutes. Baylor finally had a response with a 3-point shot by Pierre Jackson with 10 seconds left in the half to lead, 36-29.