Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Gold Rush are 13th in NAIA after climbing three places

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana was one of five teams to climb three or more places Tuesday in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The XU men (24-6) climbed three spots and are 13th, their highest ranking in three weeks.

It's the fourth time in 11 polls this season that the Gold Rush ranked 13th. Xavier has been as high as 11th twice this season, most recently on Feb. 5.

 Voting was based on games through Sunday. Xavier closed the regular season with a pair of Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victories, and the winning margins were its two largest of the year. The Rush won 75-54 at Tougaloo — Xavier's first victory there since 2005 — and 70-46 at home against Dillard.

Xavier repeated as GCAC regular-season co-champion and will play Dillard at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the GCAC Tournament at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Ark. Xavier, the tournament's top seed, seeks its third consecutive berth in the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship at Kansas City, Mo.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, Feb. 24)
Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Columbia (Mo.) (11) 30-0 281 1
2 Lee (Tenn.) 28-1 272 2
3 Lindsey Wilson 26-3 263 4
4 John Brown 25-5 244 3
5 Lewis-Clark State 26-4 242 5
6 Southwestern Assemblies of God 26-3 238 7
7 Cal State San Marcos 23-5 223 6
8 Oklahoma Baptist 24-6 221 9
9 Evangel 22-5 199 10
10 Pikeville 23-5 195 12
11 Westmont 24-6 194 8
12 William Carey 23-4 193 11
13Xavier24-616016
14 Emmanuel (Ga.) 26-3 156 17
15 Montana Western 21-8 151 22
16 Georgetown (Ky.) 21-7 149 tie-13
17 Hope International 24-6 131 18
18 Martin Methodist 20-9 123 24
19 Faulkner 25-5 110 21
20 Montana State Northern 22-8 91 tie-13
21 LSU-Shreveport 21-6 89 19
22-tie Culver-Stockton 22-7 79 25
22-tie Philander Smith 21-8 79 23
24 Arizona Christian 18-8 78 RV
25 Bethel (Tenn.) 24-6 69 15

Others receiving votes: Concordia (Calif.) 62, Westminster (Utah) 47, Science & Arts 37, St. Thomas (Texas) 33, MidAmerica Nazarene 29, Robert Morris (Chicago) 13, Campbellsville 6, Park 6.


By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

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