Gold Rush remain at 12th, grab at-large bid to nationals

NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana held on to No. 12 in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, and the Gold Rush earned the first of 14 at-large berths to the national tournament Wednesday.

The Gold Rush (23-8), a top-15 team for the seventh straight week, secured a spot in the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship for the fourth consecutive year and the eighth time in Dannton Jackson's 11 seasons as head coach. Xavier was the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season champion and lost Saturday in the semifinals of the GCAC Tournament.

For the first time since 2010, the GCAC will have three men's teams at nationals. No. 6 Talladega won the GCAC Tournament to secure the conference's automatic bid, and tournament runner-up Philander Smith -- which defeated Xavier in overtime in the semifinals -- received the last of 14 at-large berths.

The tournament appearance will be Xavier's 15th overall. The national tournament will have 32 teams and be played March 19-25 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

Tournament pairings and times will be announced Wednesday evening.

Cal State San Marcos is No. 1 in the poll for the seventh consecutive week.

The top 25:

1. Cal State San Marcos
2. Pikeville
3. William Carey
4. Columbia (Mo.)
5. Southwestern Assemblies of God
6. Talladega
7. Emmanuel
8. Vanguard
9. Freed-Hardeman
10. Rocky Mountain
11. Benedictine (Kan.)
12. Xavier
13. LSU-Shreveport
14. Culver-Stockton
15. Wiley
16. Georgetown (Ky.)
17. Arizona Christian
18. St. Gregory's
19. MidAmerica Nazarene
20. Wayland Baptist
21. Westminster (Utah)
22. Hope International
23. Montana State-Northern
24. Cumberlands
25. St. Thomas (Texas)

All top-25 teams qualified for nationals. Teams not in the top 25 which qualified were Belhaven, Evangel, Lindenwood-Belleville, Life, Oklahoma Baptist, St. Catharine (Ky.) and Philander Smith.

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