XU to play LC State in 6th straight trip to nationals

NEW ORLEANS — For the sixth consecutive season, Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball is headed to the national tournament.
    
The Gold Rush (21-12) received an at-large bid Wednesday to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship. Xavier will play Lewis-Clark State (28-4) at 8 p.m. March 17 — the second day of first-round games — at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
    
Xavier, Georgetown (Ky.) (25), LSU-Shreveport (12) and Columbia (Mo.) (6) have the longest active streaks of consecutive appearances at nationals.
    
Xavier is one of four teams seeded eighth. Lewis-Clark State is a No. 1 seed.
    
The meeting of Xavier and Lewis-Clark State will be their first. The Warriors, from Lewiston, Idaho, won Frontier Conference regular-season and tournament championships.
    
Xavier maintained its No. 29 ranking in this week's coaches poll after a 94-92 double-overtime victory against Tougaloo — the Rush trailed by 17 points in both halves — and a 75-67 victory against two-time defending champion and then-fourth ranked Talladega at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
    
Lewis-Clark State is ranked fourth.
    
The GCAC has three teams at nationals for the third consecutive year and the 10th time in 15 seasons. Talladega, which dropped to No. 6 nationally, is in the tournament for the third consecutive year. Dillard qualified for the first time since 2003, but the Bleu Devils fell out of the top 25 despite an 84-71 victory Sunday at Xavier in the GCAC Tournament final.
    
Second-round games will be played March 18, followed by quarterfinals March 19, semifinals March 21 and the championship game March 22. The Xavier-LC winner will play Freed-Hardeman or Our Lady of the Lake at 9:45 p.m. March 18.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through March 8)   Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Georgetown (Ky.) (8) 28-3 219 2 2 LSU-Alexandria (1) 28-3 211 1 3 Biola 29-3 206 3 4 Lewis-Clark State 28-4 196 6 5 Pikeville 25-5 188 5 6 Talladega 23-5 180 4 7 Columbia (Mo.) 28-5 176 9 8 Hope International 26-5 175 7 9 William Penn 27-6 162 10 10 Texas Wesleyan 24-7 154 8 11 Langston 25-6 151 13 12 MidAmerica Nazarene 25-8 141 tie-11 13 Freed-Hardeman 25-7 138 tie-11 14 Mid-America Christian 23-9 125 14 15 Peru State 22-10 113 16 16 Arizona Christian 22-8 108 15 17 William Carey 20-11 103 17 18 Our Lady of the Lake 20-8 99 18 19 Carroll (Mont.) 21-9 95 20 20 Park 20-9 92 19 21 Cumberlands 22-11 78 21 22 Montana Western 19-12 56 23 23 Campbellsville 22-10 54 RV 24 Oklahoma City 15-10 52 22 25 Westmont 21-10 45 RV        Dropped from rankings:  No. 24 William Jessup, No. 25 Dillard        Others receiving votes:  Dillard 43, LSU-Shreveport 35, William Jessup 31, Xavier 26, Southwestern Assemblies of God 22, Dalton State 13, William Woods 3, Avila 3 Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold