NEW ORLEANS -- Senior guard Anthony Goode scored 20 points Wednesday to lead NAIA No. 13 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 93-82 men's basketball victory against Behaven.It was the 19th consecutive season that the Gold Rush won the opening game.
Goode, who averaged 10.1 points last season, was 6-of-10 from the floor, 2-of-5 on 3-pointers and 6-of-7 from the line in 24 1/2 minutes. He had three assists and blocked two shots.
Jarvis Thibodeaux scored a career-high 17 points for the Gold Rush, and Troy Salvant -- a 26-year-old freshman guard who spent the past seven years in the Army -- scored 13.
Jordan Bedford made six 3-pointers and scored 26 points for the Blazers (0-1). Jerrial Dawson scored 14, and Kyle Patterson had 11.
Gary Smith's 3-pointer at 15:00 of the first half put the Gold Rush ahead to stay, 13-10. Xavier led 47-40 at halftime and held its biggest lead, 74-50, on Josh Freeman's free throw with 9:57 remaining.
Xavier outshot the Blazers 51.7 to 47.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 36-28. Belhaven made 11 3-pointers.
"It was an exciting game for the fans with all those points scored," XU coach Dannton Jackson said. "We probably had a few jitters. I'm glad we got this one behind us.
"What I liked most was that we showed the ability to put points on the board. Our two all-conference players (Sydney Coleman and Morris Wright) did not play well and we still put a lot of points on the board."
Xavier will play host to Carver College at 7 p.m. Friday. Belhaven's next game will be its home opener, 7 p.m. Monday against Xavier.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information
Director
No comments:
Post a Comment