XU's Erves is perfect in opener to lead Gold Rush past Carver

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Denzell Erves scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was 10-of-10 from the floor Wednesday in Xavier University of Louisiana's 88-69 men's basketball victory against Carver.

The Gold Rush, ranked 21st in NAIA Division I, won a season opener for the 16th consecutive season and defeated the Cougars (0-2) for the fourth straight season.

Erves' double-double was his second at Xavier. The junior forward made all six of his first-half shots and scored 12 points to lead the Gold Rush to a 38-32 halftime advantage.

Wanto Joseph scored 15 points, Nick Haywood 13 and Anthony Simmons 12 for Xavier. It was Haywood's debut with the Gold Rush after playing for the University of Houston the past two seasons.

Bernard Parks scored 14 points and Nicholas Hood 13 for Carver, and Derek Douglas and Demetrius Mack had 12 apiece.

Carver, an Atlanta college, spent about 2½ minutes with the lead in the first half, the last time at 20-18 on Hood's basket at 9:27. Kevin Miller's 3-pointer at 8:14 put the Gold Rush ahead to stay at 21-20.

Haywood's back-to-back 3-pointers in the third minute of the second half gave Xavier its first double-digit lead, 46-35. Simmons' basket with 2:14 remaining gave Xavier its biggest lead, 83-61.

Xavier outshot the Cougars 47.2 to 38.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 53-29.

Xavier won for the 21st time in its past 22 games at The Barn.

Xavier's next two games will be road exhibitions against NCAA Division I opponents — 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Western Kentucky and 7 p.m. Monday against seventh-ranked Vanderbilt.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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