MEAC/SWAC SPORTS MAIN STREET™: Xavier, with five in double figures, wins at Philander Smith

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Xavier, with five in double figures, wins at Philander Smith

ANTHONY SIMMONS
6-8/245 FORWARD, JUNIOR
GAME STATS: 16 PTS, 13 REB, 4 BLK
HOMETOWN: ROCHESTER, NY

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Junior forward Anthony Simmons produced his first double-double of the season, 16 points and 13 rebounds, to lead NAIA No. 21 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 76-70 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory against Philander Smith on Saturday.

The Gold Rush (10-4 overall, 1-0 GCAC) had five scorers in double figures. Chris Iles had 15 points, Wanto Joseph 14, Nick Haywood 11 and Jeremy Lee 10.

Xavier took the lead for good in the third minute, led 32-22 at halftime and held its biggest lead, 59-41, after Haywood's 3-point play with 8:41 remaining.

NAIA scoring leader Ken Brown had 33 points, 21 in the second half, for Philander Smith (5-9, 1-1), which is in its first GCAC season but already has victories against defending GCAC Tournament champion Tougaloo and NCAA Division I Central Arkansas.

"Our team was resilient," Xavier coach Dannton Jackson said. "We did a good job not giving their 3-point shooters a lot of room, and a lot of our guys had good games."

The Panthers made a season-low three 3-pointers in 25 attempts — Brown was 2-of-10 and Brandon Bell was 1-of-9 — and shot 29.7 percent from the floor. Xavier shot 51.9 percent and made more than half of its shots for the second straight game after never reaching 50 percent in its first 12 contests.

Simmons recorded his fourth double-double in two seasons at Xavier but his first on the road. He matched his career high for rebounds and blocked a career-best four shots.

Simmons had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. It was 17-4 in the eighth minute after Iles made his first two 3-point attempts and Simmons scored five points.

"We jumped on (Philander Smith) early," Jackson said. "But we did not do a good job managing the clock late in the game."

Philander Smith, helped in the second half by 19 XU turnovers and 23-of-26 free throws, cut Xavier's lead to five points three times in the final 75 seconds. But two Joseph free throws in the final 20 seconds and another by Haywood sealed Xavier's third consecutive victory and fifth on the road this season.

Xavier finished with 29 turnovers, its most in a game since the start of the 20023-04 season. But the Gold Rush offset that with a 47-31 rebound advantage, its best since opening night. Iles, Xavier's starting point guard, grabbed seven rebounds and has 15 in the past two games.

Lee was 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the line in his first appearance of the season. He grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes as a reserve.

Damarkus Lipscomb had 13 points and seven steals for Philander Smith, and Bell scored 12 points.

It was the last of six straight road games for Xavier, which will play GCAC and city rival SUNO at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Barn. PSBlive.com (www.psblive.com or www.xula.edu/athletics/stream) will webcast the game live.