Six Knights score in double digits to defeat Johnson & Wales

New Orleans, Louisiana - Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) improved their record to 3-4 on Sunday with a 95-82 victory over Johnson & Wales (Fla.). Six Knights-Clyde Moore, Merlin Walker, Kevin Dukes, Nicholas Washington, Jared Lewis, and Jeremy Montgomery-scored in double digits to guide the Knights to victory in The Castle. After multiple lead changes in the first half, which ended in a 41-41 tie, the Knights outscored the Wildcats 54-41 in the second half to get the win.

In front of a sparse but energetic crowd SUNO shot 52% from the field, made 38% of their three-pointers, and made 71% of their free throws to overcome Johnson & Wales' perimeter attack. In the first half, the Wildcats' 40% three-point shooting threatened the Knights consistently. Johnson & Wales led by as many as seven points but SUNO hung in to keep pace with the Wildcats. Only minutes into the second half, the Knights jumped ahead 45-42 and never looked back. The Knights shot 60% from the field, made 50% of the three-pointers, and made 72% of their free throws in the second half.

Moore led the Knights in scoring with 23 points. He was also one of the team leaders in total rebounds with seven and in steals with two. Dukes also had seven total rebounds while Lewis and Carlos Arango had two steals, each. Dukes also had SUNO's only blocked shot on the afternoon.

The Wildcats had five players in double figures. David Jean Jacques led the way with 19 points, Myles Smith had 15, both Craig Wong and Carlos Montilla had 14, and Joseph Lopez had 11. Montilla led in rebounds with nine and Wong led the team with two steals.

Xavier rallies past Shorter in matchup of ranked NAIA teams

NEW ORLEANS -- Brandi Young scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half Saturday to help Xavier University of Louisiana rally for a 56-51 women's basketball victory against Shorter.

The Gold Nuggets (7-3), ranked 16th in NAIA Division I, won their third in a row and gave the 21st-ranked Lady Hawks (8-1) their first loss of the season.

Xavier never led in the first half and trailed 31-28 at halftime, then took the lead for good with a 13-1 run in the first 3½ minutes of the second half. Young, Jazmoné Kelly and Jasmine Grant made two baskets apiece during the burst, with Young's 2-pointer giving Xavier its largest lead, 41-32, with 16:55 remaining.

Grant and SiMon Franklin scored 10 points apiece for Xavier, which defeated a ranked opponent for the first time in three tries this season.

Kelly Ellison, the NAIA leader in assists per game, had 14 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals for Shorter. Robyn Foster had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Brittney Smith had 10 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and three steals. Ellison and Foster each made three 3-pointers. Shorter was within one point of Xavier on three occasions in the final 14 minutes, the last at 50-49 when Abbie Daniel made the second of two technical free throws. Young answered with a basket for a 52-49 lead, followed by a Shorter turnover and three XU offensive rebounds before Chelsea Broussard scored for a 54-49 Xavier advantage with 3:01 to play.

Smith scored Shorter's final two points with 2:04 remaining. Ellison committed a turnover and missed the front end of a 1-and-1 in the Lady Hawks' next two possessions before Franklin clinched the game with two free throws with seven seconds remaining.

Xavier outshot Shorter 35.8 to 33.9 percent from the floor and offset the Lady Hawks' eight 3-pointers by outscoring them 15-5 in free throws. Xavier had a 38-33 rebound advantage, with Kelly grabbing eight. Franklin and Kelly had five steals apiece, with Franklin recording a career high and Kelly matching her season best.

The Gold Nuggets will break for fall semester examinations, then resume their schedule Dec. 17 with a 2 p.m. game at city rival Loyola.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

Lady Bleu Devils' Jazzmin Smith and Ariel Mitchell lead Dillard to victory over University of New Orleans

Ariel Mitchell
 Point Guard

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - Jazzmin Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and Ariel Mitchell chipped in with 15 points and 7 rebounds as the Dillard Lady Bleu Devils defeated the UNO Lady Privateers 66-63 on Thursday afternoon on the Battlefield in Dent Hall.

In what was a highly contested and tight game throughout, the Lady Bleu Devils (2-4) held on for the improbable victory.

From the opening tip, the Lady Bleu Devils were determined to pound the Lady Privateers inside with their size advantage. The Lady Bleu Devils grabbed an early 8-3 on the strength of Jazzmin Smith's inside game and Ariel Mitchell's shooting from the outside. The Lady Privateers (0-8) roared back, using a 9-3 run to tie the game at 12-12. The Lady Bleu Devils tightened their defense and reclaimed the lead and went into halftime up 34-27.

In the second half, both teams turned up their defense intensity. The Lady Bleu Devils held on to the lead until a basket by the Lady Privateers' Keri Thomas gave UNO their first lead of the game at 47-46 with just under twelve minutes to play. Scores by Jazzmin Smith and Ariel Mitchell helped the Lady Bleu Devils reclaim the lead, but the Lady Privateers would not give up. The Lady Privateers would reclaim the lead 59-57 until two free throws and a layup by the Lady Bleu Devils' Jazzmin Smith gave Dillard a 61-59 lead. The Lady Privateers would again grab the lead until Ariel Mitchell hit a jumper with 46 seconds left to give the Lady Bleu Devils their final lead and Dillard held on for the victory.

The Lady Bleu Devils shot 50% from the field in the second half. The Lady Bleu Devil defense forced the Lady Privateers into 20 turnovers in the victory.

The Lady Bleu Devils will have a week layoff to prepare for the Loyola Lady Wolfpack on Friday, December 9th at 5:30p.m. The game will be played at the University Sports Complex on the campus of Loyola University.

By Dillard Sports Information

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XU Gold Nuggets come from 16 down to win at Georgetown (Ky.)

GEORGETOWN, Kentucky -- Senior center Keldra Hall scored eight points during a closing rally Saturday which lifted NAIA No. 16 Xavier University to a 79-76 women's basketball victory against host Georgetown in the Chick-fil-A Classic.

The Gold Nuggets (3-1) trailed by 16 points late in the first half, 41-28 at halftime and 70-61 with 4:09 remaining before an 18-6 run in which they scored on their final eight possessions.

Hall had a pair of 3-point plays during the rally, with the second putting Xavier ahead to stay at 71-70 with 1:54 remaining.

"It's hard on the road," Xavier coach Bo Browder said. "But the Gold Nuggets know how to fight!"

Hall finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Brandi Young scored 17 points -- including 2-of-2 3-pointers and 9-of-10 free throws -- Jasmine Grant scored 12 and Carmen Holcombe and Jessica Savannah had 11 apiece. Grant made 4-of-8 3-pointers. Holcombe added a career-high eight rebounds and Savannah, a freshman, did not miss any of her seven shots.

Grant's final 3-pointer followed a Holcombe steal and gave Xavier a 74-70 lead with 1:42 remaining. Young made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 12 seconds.

It was the first time in five years that the Nuggets won despite surrendering 75 or more points.

Andrea Howard had 19 points and six rebounds for Georgetown (4-1). Mikkah Rogers scored a season-high 18 points. Jessica Waddle had 17 points and five rebounds, and Devon Golden had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

Howard scored 15 first-half points and passed to Waddle for a 3-pointer which gave the Tigers their biggest lead, 41-26, with 27 seconds remaining in the first half. Grant answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession.

Georgetown outshot the Nuggets 39.6 to 35.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 46-35.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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Midnight Madness Highlight @ Xavier University of Louisiana

Friday, November 11 — Men's Basketball vs. St. Thomas (Fla.), 6 p.m.   live stats
Saturday, November 19 — Women's Basketball vs. Huston-Tillotson, noon   live on internet   •   live stats
Saturday, November 19 — Men's Basketball vs. Wiley, 2 p.m.   live on internet   •   live stats

Gold Nuggets beat Badgers for Browder's 300th victory at XU

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Senior center Keldra Hall had 18 points and nine rebounds Tuesday to lead NAIA No. 16 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 64-54 women's basketball victory against Spring Hill and give Bo Browder his 300th victory as coach of the Gold Nuggets.

Browder, in his 13th season, is 300-102 and has reached 20 victories 11 times.

"It's all about who's in your program," Browder said. "I've been blessed to have a wonderful assistant coach in Darrilyn Broussard since the start of my third season. And of course you can't win without good players, and we've had many contribute to our success."

 XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
2011-12 GOLD NUGGETS BASKETBALL TEAM
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(Click photo to enlarge)

Jasmine Grant had 13 points, including three 3-pointers, four assists and three steals for Xavier (2-0), and Brandi Young had 10 points and five assists.

Cassandra Mitchell had 16 points and five rebounds for Spring Hill (0-1), and April Bradford had nine points and two blocked shots.

Xavier trailed 16-9 midway through the first half before taking the lead for good at 1:15 on SiMon Franklin's basket. The Gold Nuggets led 35-30 at halftime and led by 14 twice in the final 10 minutes.

Both Hall and Mitchell scored 11 first-half points.

The victory was Xavier's 12th in a row at home. Xavier defeated Spring Hill for the 37th time in the past 41 meetings and leads the series 47-11.

It was the collegiate regular-season debut for Spring Hill head coach Karen McConico, an assistant at High Point the past seven years.

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

Xavier loses 73-61 to Western Kentucky in road exhibition

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky — Derrick Gordon scored 17 points Saturday to lead Western Kentucky to a 73-61 men's basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

It was the third consecutive year that the Hilltoppers, an NCAA Division I member, beat the NAIA-member Gold Rush in an exhibition, but this was the closest of the three margins. Western Kentucky won by 53 points in 2009 and by 15 points in 2010.

T.J. Price scored 12 points for WKU, and Nigel Snipes and Kahlil McDonald had 11 apiece. Snipes grabbed 11 rebounds.

Wanto Joseph had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists and was Xavier's lone double-figure scorer. Kevin Miller had nine points and five rebounds, and Chris Iles and Renard Smith scored eight points apiece.

Xavier, ranked 21st in NAIA Division I, trailed 41-25 at halftime but outscored the Hilltoppers 36-32 in the second half. Iles made the second of two free throws with 3:28 remaining to cut WKU's margin to 63-56, but the Hilltoppers scored the next six points to clinch the victory.

WKU outshot Xavier 41.1 to 40 percent from the floor, committed 13 turnovers and gained 27. The Gold Rush had a 39-36 rebound advantage even though two of Xavier's tallest players, Denzell Erves and Anthony Simmons, fouled out. WKU outscored Xavier 23-16 in free throws.

The Hilltopers led 4-0 through the first 2:15, then the Gold Rush scored eight consecutive points — five by Erves and three by Miller — to take an 8-4 lead. WKU responded with a 9-0 run before Xavier took its final lead, 16-15, when Nick Haywood passed to Smith for a 3-pointer at 11:16.

WKU had a 10-0 run in the final 3:22 of the first half, then took its biggest lead, 45-27, on Price's basket in the paint with 17:33 remaining.

Xavier will stay on the road for a 7 p.m. Monday exhibition at seventh-ranked Vanderbilt.


GALLERY: Men's Basketball vs. Xavier
Box score

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

XU's Erves is perfect in opener to lead Gold Rush past Carver

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Denzell Erves scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was 10-of-10 from the floor Wednesday in Xavier University of Louisiana's 88-69 men's basketball victory against Carver.

The Gold Rush, ranked 21st in NAIA Division I, won a season opener for the 16th consecutive season and defeated the Cougars (0-2) for the fourth straight season.

Erves' double-double was his second at Xavier. The junior forward made all six of his first-half shots and scored 12 points to lead the Gold Rush to a 38-32 halftime advantage.

Wanto Joseph scored 15 points, Nick Haywood 13 and Anthony Simmons 12 for Xavier. It was Haywood's debut with the Gold Rush after playing for the University of Houston the past two seasons.

Bernard Parks scored 14 points and Nicholas Hood 13 for Carver, and Derek Douglas and Demetrius Mack had 12 apiece.

Carver, an Atlanta college, spent about 2½ minutes with the lead in the first half, the last time at 20-18 on Hood's basket at 9:27. Kevin Miller's 3-pointer at 8:14 put the Gold Rush ahead to stay at 21-20.

Haywood's back-to-back 3-pointers in the third minute of the second half gave Xavier its first double-digit lead, 46-35. Simmons' basket with 2:14 remaining gave Xavier its biggest lead, 83-61.

Xavier outshot the Cougars 47.2 to 38.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 53-29.

Xavier won for the 21st time in its past 22 games at The Barn.

Xavier's next two games will be road exhibitions against NCAA Division I opponents — 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Western Kentucky and 7 p.m. Monday against seventh-ranked Vanderbilt.

Box score

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

LSU dominates Gold Nuggets in exhibition game

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — LaSondra Barrett's 22 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds Wednesday led 21st-ranked LSU to a 102-42 women's basketball exhibition victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

Theresa Plaisance added 20 points, Krystal Forthan 14 and Adrienne Webb 12 for the Lady Tigers.

Jasmine Grant scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers, and freshman Jessica Savannah had 10 for the Gold Nuggets, who are ranked 16th in NAIA Division I.

LSU outshot the Gold Nuggets 58.8 to 24.6 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 52-29.

LSU led 45-29 at halftime. The final margin was the Lady Tigers' largest of the game. It was the first meeting between the schools.

The teams traded three pointers in the first minute — Barrett made hers at 19:47, and Grant answered 19 seconds later — then LSU scored the next 11 points and never lost the lead.

Grant, Savannah and Brandi Young each made 3-pointers during a 9-0 run which closed the margin to 23-17 at 10:12. The Gold Nuggets pulled even closer at 29-24 at 5:38, but LSU answered with a 14-0 run.

Then the Lady Tigers pulled away some more, outscoring Xavier 23-5 in the first eight minutes of the second half.

LSU's winning margin exceeded the combined margin of Xavier's seven losses in 2010-11 (55 points), and it exceeded the XU record for largest loss — a 122-64 decision against Southeastern Louisiana in 1977-78, Xavier's first season in the Title IX era. Xavier led NAIA Division I in scoring defense the past two seasons.

Xavier will open its regular season at 7 p.m. Friday against Florida Memorial at The Barn. PSBlive.com will provide live internet coverage of the game.

Box score

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

Xavier Gold Nuggets No. 16, their best preseason rank since '04

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is No. 16 in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 announced Monday. It's the Gold Nuggets' highest preseason ranking since the 2004-05 season, when they were 15th.

Xavier, 27-7 this past season and two-time defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament champion, returns 13 letterwomen and three starters. The Nuggets will attempt to reach 20 victories for the 19th time in 20 seasons and qualify for the NAIA Division I National Championship for the 16th time in 18 seasons. This past season the Gold Nuggets reached the second round of nationals for the first time since 2003.

Xavier was 22nd in the 2010-11 preseason. It's the first time since a four-year streak from 2001-04 that the Nuggets are preseason top-25 in consecutive years.

Three XU opponents this season — No. 3 Oklahoma City, No. 19 Langston and No. 21 Shorter — also are ranked. Langston will visit the Nuggets on Nov. 25, and Shorter will visit Dec. 3 and play host to the Nuggets on Jan. 4. Xavier will play Oklahoma City in Las Vegas on Dec. 20.

The other GCAC team to receive votes was SUNO, which collected nine points and ranks 34th. Xavier will play host to the Lady Knights on Jan. 10 and visit SUNO on Feb. 6. Three others which received votes — Southern Poly, Georgetown (Ky.) and city rival Loyola — also will play the Nuggets this season.

Defending champion Azusa Pacific received all 12 first-place votes to end the 48-poll No. 1 streak of Union (Ky.), which lost 65-59 to Azusa in the national championship game on March 22.

The first regular-season poll will be announced Dec. 5.

Xavier will travel to SEC opponent LSU for a Nov. 2 exhibition, then open the regular season Nov. 4 against Florida Memorial at The Barn. Both games will tip off at 7 p.m.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25(first-place votes in parentheses — includes 2010-11 final records) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Azusa Pacific (12) 33-5 312 3 2 Union (Tenn.) 35-2 302 1 3 Oklahoma City 27-4 290 4 4 Shawnee State 27-10 280 tie-24 5 Lewis-Clark State 29-5 266 10 6-tie Freed-Hardeman 27-9 248 7 6-tie Bethel (Tenn.) 27-7 248 6 8 Campbellsville 30-4 234 2 9 Westminster (Utah) 28-7 222 8 10 Vanguard 18-11 221 19 11 Southern Nazarene 27-7 220 18 12 Olivet Nazarene 26-6 202 16 13 Saint Xavier 24-6 179 12 14 Lindsey Wilson 24-9 175 15 15 Lee (Tenn.) 25-7 174 tie-13 16 Xavier 27-7 166 20 17 Lubbock Christian 23-10 158 22 18 Columbia (Mo.) 28-6 157 11 19 Langston 28-5 152 tie-13 20 Westmont 20-10 124 23 21 Shorter 24-8 110 RV 22 Evangel 21-9 85 tie-24 23 William Woods 30-5 77 21 24 Rogers State 23-10 72 RV 25 Belhaven 24-9 58 RV Others receiving votes: The Master's 57, Carroll (Mont.) 39, Cumberlands 26, Southern Poly 22, Robert Morris (Chicago) 18, Avila 15, Point Loma Nazarene 11, Texas Wesleyan 10; SUNO 9, Loyola 7, Wayland Baptist 5, John Brown 4, Biola 3, Voorhees 1, Rocky Mountain 1, Benedictine (Kan.) 1, Georgetown (Ky.) 1.

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

XU Gold Rush in preseason top 25 for 2nd straight season

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — Xavier University of Louisiana is No. 21 in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 announced Monday. It's the first time in coach Dannton Jackson's nine seasons that the Gold Rush are preseason top-25 in consecutive years.

Xavier, 27-6 and the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament runner-up this past season, returns nine lettermen and four starters. The Rush will attempt to qualify for the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship for the sixth time in eight seasons. This past season the XU men won their first 13 games and qualified for nationals with their most victories since the 1983-84 season.

Xavier was 20th in the 2010-11 preseason and spent three weeks in the top 10.

The other GCAC team to receive votes was defending tournament champion Tougaloo, which is 13th. Xavier will visit Tougaloo on Jan. 23 and play host to the Bulldogs on Feb. 13. Two teams which received votes, Mobile and William Carey, will play Xavier in home-and-away non-conference series this season.

Defending champion Pikeville is the preseason No. 1 after receiving five of 12 first-place votes. Four other teams received first-place votes.

Earlier in the day Xavier's women's team earned a preseason No. 16 ranking. That makes Xavier one of four NAIA Division I schools — the others are Azusa Pacific, Evangel and Union (Tenn.) — with men's and women's basketball teams to earn preseason top-25 rankings in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

The Gold Rush will open the season at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at The Barn against Carver College of Atlanta.

The first regular-season poll will be announced Dec. 5.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25(first-place votes in parentheses — includes 2010-11 final records) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Pikeville (5) 30-7 300 24 2 Mountain State (3) 33-4 295 3 3 Robert Morris (Chicago) (2) 32-2 293 1 4 Concordia (Calif.) (1) 32-4 288 2 5 Martin Methodist (1) 34-3 268 6 6 LSU-Shreveport 30-4 255 4 7 Oklahoma Baptist 24-9 254 9 8 Georgetown (Ky.) 32-5 240 7 9 Azusa Pacific 29-6 233 8 10 Texas Wesleyan 30-4 223 6 11 Rogers State 22-12 202 25 12 Shorter 23-8 188 RV 13 Tougaloo 27-4 185 11 14 Columbia (Mo.) 26-6 166 18 15-tie Biola 28-6 158 13 15-tie Montana State Northern 24-9 158 19 17 St. Catharine 22-9 149 14 18 Southern Nazarene 26-8 141 10 19 Evangel 26-9 132 15 20 Southern Poly 23-10 121 RV 21 Xavier 27-6 94 17 22 Union (Tenn.) 26-7 88 12 23 Carroll (Mont.) 23-9 75 22 24 Saint Xavier 19-13 66 NR 25 Fresno Pacific 20-11 63 RV Others receiving votes: Park 55, Lee (Tenn.) 45, MidAmerica Nazarene 33, Mobile 31, Oklahoma Christian 26, Campbellsville 24, Our Lady of the Lake 22, Freed-Hardeman 21, Life 16, MontanaWestern 12, Westminster (Utah) 3, William Carey 1, Northwestern Oklahoma 1, St. Francis (Ill.) 1, Benedictine (Kan.) 1, Westmont 1, Emmanuel (Ga.) 1, Cumberland 1, Cumberlands 1.

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