Xavier's Haywood makes seven 3s, but Wiley wins by 11

MARSHALL, Texas — Christopher Tolbert scored nine of his 14 points in the final 10½ minutes Saturday to help Wiley pull away for a 78-67 men's basketball victory against NAIA No. 21 Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Wildcats (3-2) avenged a 64-60 loss at Xavier from one week ago and spoiled an outstanding performance by Gold Rush guard Nick Haywood, who made seven 3-pointers and scored 26 points

Xavier (4-1) never led after the second minute and trailed by 13 in the first half. The Gold Rush tied the score for the third and final time on Haywood's 3-pointer with 11:19 remaining — that made it 53-all — but Tolbert answered with three consecutive 3-pointers to give Wiley a 73-61 lead at 3:54. The Wildcats shut out Xavier in the final three minutes and defeated the Gold Rush for the fifth straight time at Alumni Gymnasium in six seasons.

Haywood, a junior in his first XU season after transferring from NCAA Division I Houston, was the only Gold Rush player to reach double figures. He scored eight points in the previous three games but had 14 by halftime. Haywood is the first to reach 25 points for Xavier since February 2010 and the first to make seven 3-pointers since Mark Stewart made a school-record-tying eight at Mobile in March 2008.

Cordell Hadnot had nine points and eight rebounds for Xavier, and Kevin Miller grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds. Xavier made a season-best 10 3-pointers in 22 attempts — Miller, Chris Iles and Wanto Joseph made the other treys — but Xavier made 23.5 percent of its 2-pointers and finished at a season-low 32.1 percent overall.

Graylin Smith had 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for Wiley. Richard Simon scored 12 points, and Freddie Haynes had 10.

Smith's basket at 6:43 of the first half gave Wiley a 34-21 lead, but Xavier made 10-of-12 free throws to cut the Wildcats' advantage to 43-36 by halftime.

Wiley shot 51.8 percent from the floor against a Xavier team which ranked fourth in NAIA Division I in field-goal percentage defense. The Gold Rush limited the Wildcats to 37.5 percent one week ago.

It was the first time in 33 games that Xavier lost despite making more free throws than its opponent. The Gold Rush were 21-of-31, and Wiley was 14-of-27.

Xavier's next game will start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Barn against city rival Loyola in a PSBlive.com webcast.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, SID

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