The Tornadoes (28-4) won the tournament for the second consecutive year and earned the GCAC's automatic berth to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship, which will begin March 18 at Kansas City, Mo. The Gold Rush (24-9) -- ranked 18th and owner of NAIA DI's longest streak of top-25 appearances, 48 -- will receive strong consideration for an at-large bid. Pairings will be announced Wednesday.
Brandon Peters scored 19 points, Courtney Mack 14 and Wendell Pierre 13 for Talladega.
Morris Wright scored 21 points, Sydney Coleman 16 and Anthony Goode 13 for Xavier. Coleman grabbed nine rebounds.
In the final five minutes, Talladega pulled away by making 17-of-18 free throws and outscoring Xavier 21-4.
For the game, Talladega outshot Xavier 50 to 39.6 percent from the floor and made 31-of-41 free throws to Xavier's 15-of-19. Peters was 15-of-17 from the line.
Xavier shot better than 60 percent from the floor in both of its tournament victories, including a season-high 63.8 percent Friday against Dillard.
Xavier twice led by five points in the first four minutes before Talladega rallied for a 30-28 halftime advantage. There were two ties and five lead changes in the second half before Pierre's basket with 8:16 remaining put the Tornadoes ahead to stay, 51-50.
Joining Stewart on the five-player all-tournament team were Peters, Wright, Coleman and Teviin Morris of Philander Smith.
Coleman extended his streak of consecutive field goals made in the tournament to 21 before missing three times in the final 7:49. Those were his only misses of the tournament.
Xavier seeks a school-record fifth consecutive invitation to the national tournament and its ninth of the last 11 seasons.
Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
https://twitter.com/xulagold
https://www.facebook.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment