Loyd gets double-double, but Rush fall to Patriots

WILLIAMSBURG, Kentucky — Jahi Hinson scored a season-high 24 points and sparked a second-half run Sunday that carried NAIA No. 21 Cumberlands to a 77-62 men's basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana in the Cumberlands Classic.
     
The Patriots (13-2) won their sixth in a row and snapped the four-game win streak of the Gold Rush (8-6). XULA won 68-66 Saturday against fifth-ranked Campbellsville in this event.
     
XULA junior William Loyd had 15 points and 11 rebounds in his team-leading third double-double of the season.
     
XULA's next game will be its Gulf Coast Athletic Conference opener — 7:30 p.m. at home Jan. 7 against Tougaloo in the Convocation Center. XULA was GCAC regular-season co-champion a year ago.
     
Cumberlands led 30-27 at halftime, then got seven points from Hinson and five from Anthony Eaves in a 19-4 run to open the second half. XULA got as close as 54-49 on a Rayshawn Mart 3-point play with 7:03 remaining, then the Patriots pulled away again to give XULA its first double-digit loss of the season.
     
Loyd was XULA's only double-figure scorer. Mart and Jeff Dixon scored nine points apiece, but they were a combined 7-of-29 from the floor. XULA finished at 35.2 percent from the floor, its lowest since the opener.
    
 Haji Jawara scored a season-high seven points for the Gold Rush, and the 6-foot-11 center recorded his first two blocked shots of the season.
     
Malik Colvin-Seldon scored 15 points, Eaves 11 and Danny Butt 10 for Cumberlands, which is 9-0 at home this season. Caleb Taylor grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked six shots, both season highs.
     
Cumberlands shot 45.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Gold Rush 43-38. The Patriots dominated at the line, making 22-of-34 free throws to XULA's 7-of-15.
     
The only Gold Rush lead was 2-0. Cumberlands scored the next 10 points and led the final 38:39. The Rush trailed 28-14, then Khalil McCoy made back-to-back 3's to start a 13-0 XULA run.
     
XULA is 2-4 this season against ranked NAIA opponents.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications
Department of Athletics & Recreation
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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