KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- In a matchup of two of the NAIA's top defenses, No. 1 prevailed.Hope International, the national leader in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense, limited Xavier University of Louisiana to a season-low 35.7 percent from the floor and defeated the Gold Rush 61-52 in the opening round of the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship on Thursday.
Senior guard Jeremy Kilgore scored 12 of his career-high-tying 28 points during Hope's 16-2 run to open the game. The Royals (23-10), ranked 22nd in the final coaches poll before the tournament, never lost that lead.
The Gold Rush (23-9), No. 12 in the poll and seeded 12th in the tournament, rallied to within one point late in the first half and three points early in the second half but did not threaten in the closing minutes. Xavier's points were its fewest ever in 19 tournament games and its second fewest of the season. The Rush averaged 85.7 points and shot 51.1 percent from the floor in the six games preceding nationals.
Morris Wright scored 20 points, Anthony Goode 10 and Lucas Martin-Julien nine for Xavier, which made its 15th appearance at nationals and its fourth in a row.
Xavier, ranked third in the NAIA in field-goal percentage defense and eighth in scoring defense, regrouped after Hope's early run and limited the Royals to 30.2 percent from the floor in the final 34 minutes -- 37.3 percent for the game. The Gold Rush also outrebounded Hope 37-29 -- Xavier's best rebound margin at nationals since 1973.
Kilgore's second and final 3-pointer of the game gave the Royals a 16-2 lead at 14:06, and it was 17-4 after Garrett Neilan made 1-of-2 free throws at 11:45. But Xavier rallied, with Wright scoring 13 points -- including 3-of-3 3-pointers -- during a 17-5 run. Wright capped the surge with a trey to cut Hope's lead to 22-21 at 3:47.
Hope then closed the half with six unanswered points, and Neilan's basket with one second remaining made it 28-21.
The Royals extended their lead to nine in the first 75 seconds of the second half before Goode capped a 12-6 XU rally with a basket and two free throws, leaving Hope in front at 38-35 with 13:26 remaining.
Hope then missed its next three shots, but Xavier didn't get any closer. The Royals then hit four shots in a row, including a Matt Green 3-pointer, to lead 47-36 at 9:35. The Gold Rush never got closer than six points thereafter.
Wright, an Àll-Gulf Coast Athletic Conference sophomore guard, reached 20 points for the second straight game and the fifth time this season. He was 5-of-10 from the floor, 4-of-6 on 3-pointers and 6-of-6 from the line. Wright grabbed seven rebounds to share team honors with Sydney Coleman.
Green, Hope's No. 3 scorer entering the tournament, had 15 points in the second half and finished with 19.
NOTES: It was the final XU game for seniors Olivier Siewe and Xavier Rogers, both of whom played two seasons for the Rush . . . The game, the last of eight Thursday, tipped off at 10:15 p.m., 30 minutes behind schedule. It ended at 12:01 a.m. . . . The Gold Rush set school season records with 904 free-throw attempts and 653 free throws made. Previous records were 877 attempts in 2010-11 and 626 made in 2010-11 . . . The Gold Rush lost for the fourth consecutive year in the first round. The XU men have not won at nationals since the 2007 first round, which is their only victory since 1973 . . . The Royals will play at 9:45 p.m. Friday in the second round against unseeded St. Catharine (Ky.), a 99-97 winner against fifth-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God.
Box score
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information DirectorXULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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