Return of Edward Waters College Tiger Pride

Jacksonville, FL - The Edward Waters College Tigers scrimmaged Saturday at the Bob Hayes Sports Complex. The Tigers will open their season Saturday, September 3rd at 2 p.m. under new head coach Brad Bernard.

Bernard is taking over a team that finished 2-8 in 2010 and a program that has gone 14-48 since winning the Southeast Atlantic Conference Title in 2004. The Tigers are returning nine starters from last year's team.




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Smith and Haywood sign scholarships with Xavier Gold Rush

Nick Haywood

Renard Smith

NEW ORLEANS — Two in-state guards — Renard Smith of New Orleans and Nick Haywood of Monroe — have signed men's basketball scholarships with Xavier University of Louisiana.

Both will be juniors at XU during the 2011-12 season.

Smith, 6-feet-3 and 180 pounds, averaged 15.4 points for Delgado Community College in New Orleans this past season and was All-Miss-Lou Conference. Although not a starter during the first half of the season, Smith finished the year as the Dolphins' No. 2 scorer.

Smith was All-District 10-4A in basketball and baseball (right-handed pitcher) his senior year at McDonogh 35 High School.

He helped the Roneagles reach the Class 4A state playoffs each of three varsity basketball seasons, and as a baseball senior he ranked among the metro New Orleans leaders with a 1.17 ERA.

As a freshman at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., Smith started 22 of 24 games and averaged 11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals and made 29 3-pointers.



Haywood, 6 feet and 175 pounds, is transferring to Xavier from NCAA Division I member Houston, where he averaged 1.6 points and 9.1 minutes in 50 games with two starts during the past two seasons. He was chosen Class 5A Player of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches as a senior at Ouachita High School. That season Haywood averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 steals and led the Lions to a 39-4 record and the 5A state championship. He also earned Academic All-State honorable mention from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Haywood was a four-year member of Ouachita's varsity and started the final three years. The Lions reached the state quarterfinals in each of Haywood's four seasons and were the 4A runner-up his freshman year. In the 2009 5A championship game, a 70-53 victory over Hahnville, Haywood scored a game-high 21 points and made five 3-pointers.

At Xavier Smith will major in business administration, and Haywood will major in computer information systems.

"Renard and Nick will give our program an immediate boost," ninth-year Xavier coach Dannton Jackson said. "They're great basketball players, great students and great people. They both will bring a deep shooting presence, a defensive presence and leadership to our team. They come from two of the best high-school programs in Louisiana."

Smith and Haywood are the first two signees of the year for Xavier, which was 27-6 in 2010-11, ranked 17th in the final NAIA Division I poll and qualified for the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship for the fifth time in seven seasons.



By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

GCAC Prepares to Become Nation's 5th HBCU Conference

In a few weeks, the four HBCU conferences – the CIAA, MEAC, SIAC & SWAC – will need to make room at nation’s the table for a newcomer. The revamped Gulf Coast Athletic Conference will begin life with six historically black colleges and universities after 29 years as a mixed league. Dillard University, Edward Waters College, Fisk, Southern University-New Orleans, Tougaloo and Xavier of Louisiana will try to keep the conference alive after six former members – all predominantly white institutions -- departed for greener pastures.

When the 2009-10 athletic season finished back in June, the GCAC had 10 members. But, LSU-Shreveport left to join the Red River Athletic Conference. Belhaven, Loyola of New Orleans, Mobile, Spring Hill and William Carey joined the expanding Southern States Athletic Conference in a bid for more exposure, according to New Orleans Small College Examiner Eddie Francis. That left GCAC with just four teams – Dillard, SUNO, Tougaloo and Xavier. Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director at Xavier, explained that the conference needed six members to keep its automatic bids to the various NAIA tournaments. Otherwise, members would have to participate in a preliminary tournament with the Association of Independent Institutions for the chance to go to the playoffs.

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