Xavier Gold Rush defeat Fisk to give Jackson his 200th victory

HEAD COACH DANNTON JACKSON

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Chris Iles scored a career-high 21 points Monday to lead NAIA No. 25 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 74-50 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory against Fisk.

The Gold Rush (21-7 overall, 10-3 GCAC) won for the seventh time in eight games and gave Dannton Jackson his 200th career victory as head coach.

Denzell Erves had 16 points and 10 rebounds — his team-leading sixth double-double of the season and his second in a row — and Wanto Joseph scored 12 points.

Jackson is 200-88 in nine seasons at Xavier and has reached 20 victories seven times. He is the third consecutive Gold Rush coach to reach 200 victories — Denny Alexander (1978-90) and Dale Valdery (1990-2002) did it too. Valdery won a Gold Rush-record 234 games, and Alexander won 212.

"I couldn't get to 200 wins on my own," Jackson said. "Reaching 200 is a tribute to all the guys who wore the Xavier uniform. We've had some unbelievable guys in the program. They're responsible for this. I'm really proud to represent Xavier, my alma mater."

Jewaun Wynn scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, for Fisk (6-20, 2-10).

Xavier overcame a 7-0 Fisk start to lead 28-25 at halftime, then pulled away with a 30-7 burst in the first 13 minutes of the second half. Iles scored 11 points during the run, and Cordell Hadnot's basket with 7:40 remaining gave Xavier its largest lead, 58-32.

"Fisk hit some early shots and played well," Jackson said. "They were attacking the paint and creating shots. Once we were able to control that, we got it going. We depended on our defense again to pull away."

The Gold Rush outshot the Bulldogs 45.5 to 31 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 47-31. Xavier had advantages of 42-18 in points in the paint and 32-14 in bench scoring. Xavier dominated at the line, making 20-of-27 free throws to Fisk's 9-of-20.

"I like the way we're playing. I like the way we're defending," Jackson said. "When we're settled down and defending, we're really a hard team to beat."

Xavier remained one game behind 17th-ranked Tougaloo, an 84-64 winner at home against Talladega, in the GCAC. Xavier and Tougaloo will close the regular season Saturday with conference road games — Xavier will visit city rival Dillard at 7 p.m., and Tougaloo will visit SUNO at 5 p.m.

BOX SCORE

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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