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NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana will conduct men's basketball tryouts for the 2011-12 season on Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Barn.
Participants must bring an academic transcript. The tryout is open to current XU and junior-college students and to 12th-graders graduating in 2011.
The Barn, Xavier's gymnasium, can be found on online maps by using 3999 Short Street and the 70125 zip code.
Contact assistant coach Alfred Williams at (504) 520-6778 or awilli39@xula.edufor more information.
Xavier 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.
Louis Theodore Williams
March 26, 1960 - April 20, 2011
NEW ORLEANS — Louis Williams, the leading scorer on Xavier University of Louisiana's 29-2 men's basketball team in 1981-82, died this past Wednesday (April 20) in Houston at age 51.
Williams died in his sleep of natural causes, his sister Dawn said.
A 6-foot-4 forward and a native of Gulfport, Miss., Williams averaged 17 points and 6.9 points per game and shot 57.4 percent from the floor to earn NAIA All-America honorable mention for Coach Denny Alexander's Gold Rush in 1981-82. Xavier lost its opener, then won 29 in a row to tie a school record for consecutive victories in one season. The XU men were 12-0 in league play during the first season of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, won the NAIA District 30 playoffs to qualify for the NAIA National Championship and ranked third in the final NAIA coaches poll.
"A tremendous athlete with fantastic leaping ability and a soft but deadly jump shot." Alexander said of Williams. "Capable of being unstoppable at times . . . sometimes he's downright awesome."
Williams was one of three freshmen from Alexander's 1979-80 team to reach 1,200 career points at Xavier. The others were Eugene Johnson and Alvin "Bo" Dukes. Williams played through his junior season and finished with 1,206 points — which still ranks him 17th on Xavier's career list — and 527 rebounds in 86 games.
Williams averaged 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds as a freshman. As a sophomore he averaged 12.8 and 6.1 rebounds and blocked 67 shots — still a Gold Rush season record — for a 21-8 team which won the NAIA District 30 playoffs and qualified for the national tourney for the first time in eight seasons.
His single-game highs included 34 points at Paul Quinn on Jan. 11, 1982, 17 rebounds at Dillard on Feb. 14, 1981, and nine blocked shots against Philander Smith in the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Tournament on Dec. 19, 1980.
As a senior at Harrison Central High School in 1978-79, Williams averaged 19 points and 16 rebounds.
"Sweet Lou was the best," Dawn Williams said. "He was everyone's best friend. He would sit on his front porch and talk to everybody who passed by."
Williams is survived by six daughters and 16 siblings. A Mass of Christian burial will start at 10 a.m. Monday (May 2) at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, 3521 19th Street in Gulfport, MS 39501, phone 228-863-0642. Burial will follow at Monroe Memorial Park at the corner of Canal and Hutter roads in Gulfport. In lieu of flowers, the Williams family requests donations to Dawn Williams accounts at Wells Fargo Bank or Hancock Bank to help defray funeral expenses.
NEW ORLEANS — After three consecutive appearances at a program-record No. 8, Xavier University of Louisiana fell to 11th Tuesday in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
Losses to William Carey and Tulane since the last poll extended the losing streak of the Gold Rush (11-9) to four duals. Still, 11th is higher than any XU men's team prior to this season. The Gold Rush are in the the top 25 for the 30th consecutive time dating to April 4, 2007, and it's the 21st straight time dating to April 30, 2008, that the Gold Rush are among the top 18.
The top five teams are the same as the previous poll, with Fresno Pacific ranked first for the 13th consecutive time. This was the sixth of eight polls this season. The final two rankings will be announced May 3 and 8.
Tulane was Xavier's final regular-season opponent. The Gold Rush will travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30 at Champions Club Tennis Complex. The XU men are trying to reach the national tournament for the third consecutive year.
NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, April 17)
Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Fresno Pacific (11) 20-2 281 1
2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 14-6 270 2
3 Auburn Montgomery 19-3 262 3
4 Azusa Pacific 15-5 253 4
5 Oklahoma Christian 17-1 249 5
6 Westmont 11-5 236 7
7 Point Loma Nazarene 13-4 225 6
8 Concordia (Calif.) 8-13 210 9
9 William Carey 10-8 203 19
10 Union (Ky.) 14-4 197 NR
11 Xavier 11-9 194 8
12 Vanguard 6-13 189 10
13 Graceland 8-4 182 11
14 Aquinas 22-3 153 14
15 Shorter 9-2 152 12
16 St. Thomas (Fla.) 13-3 151 13
17 Lindsey Wilson 11-5 131 NR
18 Lewis-Clark State 9-7 122 15
19 Olivet Nazarene 13-2 117 17
20-tie SCAD Savannah 7-4 113 16
20-tie McKendree 15-2 113 18
22 Tennessee Wesleyan 9-5 89 NR
23 Martin Methodist 12-4 84 20
24 Webber International 13-6 68 21
25-tie Bethany (Kan.) 17-3 48 25
25-tie Lee (Tenn.) 3-5 48 23
NEW ORLEANS -- South Alabama ended its losing streak and extended Xavier University of Louisiana's with a 9-0 women's tennis decision Saturday at Tulane's Goldring Stadium. The match was scored under NAIA rules.
The Jaguars (2-11) had lost eight consecutive duals. The Gold Nuggets (3-16) have lost five straight and 14 of their last 15. It was Xavier's eighth loss of the season against an NCAA Division I opponent.
South Alabama picked up default victories at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles and dropped just eight games in seven completed matches. The closest match was at No. 2 doubles, where Alina Volman and Jess Courtnell defeated sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach 8-4.
Chané Hines teamed with Katie Welch for an 8-0 doubles victory over Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson at No. 1, then Hines beat Nicole DeLoach 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Welch defeated Brown 6-1, 6-0 at No 1 singles.
Bridgette Gale clinched the dual with her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Ashley McGill at No. 5 singles.
South Alabama will remain in the city and play at Tulane at 1 p.m. Sunday. Xavier will close its regular season with a 4 p.m. Tuesday dual against Southeastern Louisiana at City Park Tennis Center, then travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana closed its regular season Wednesday with a 7-0 loss at Tulane in the first-ever men's tennis dual match between the schools.
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the XU men (11-9) and their seventh in 10 duals since a 6-3 victory March 4 at Vanguard which propelled them into the NAIA's top 10. It also was the regular-season finale for Tulane (11-10), which has won three straight and five of its last six.
Rodrigo Rappaccioli clinched the doubles point for Tulane when he and Shaye Wali defeated Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson 8-4 at No. 2. Rappaccioli clinched the dual with his 6-1, 6-1 victory over Amir Rahbar at No. 4 singles.
Giles-Osborn was the only Gold Rush player to win a set, but he lost 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-3) to Joe Young at No. 2 singles. Zach Taylor, playing No. 3 singles, forced a second-set tiebreaker before losing 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) to Radu Ionescu.
The loss was Xavier's fifth in seven duals this season against NCAA Division I opponents.
The Gold Rush, ranked eighth in the NAIA, will compete next in an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30 at Chattanooga, Tenn. Xavier's women still have two regular-season duals remaining.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Devin Andrew and Anthony Simmons are third-team selections on the Boxtorow.com Division II/NAIA HBCU All-America team announced Tuesday.
Andrew — a 6-foot-4 senior guard from Harvey, La., a graduate of Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma and a former student at Karr High School in New Orleans — led the Gold Rush this season with 10.9 points per game, 1.2 steals per game and 111 free throws in 147 attempts. He won two January home games with points in the final two seconds. Andrew played in 32 games and started 17.
Simmons, a 6-8 sophomore forward from Rochester, N.Y., and a graduate of Allendale Columbia School, averaged nine points and 5.5 rebounds in 32 games with 19 starts. He was Xavier's No. 2 scorer and rebounder and led the team with a .598 field-goal percentage.
Xavier recorded its first 13-0 start since 1940-41 and winningest season (27-6) since 1983-84. Xavier earned an at-large berth to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship and ranked 17th in the final coaches poll.
The team was selected by media members from around the country who cover NCAA Division II and NAIA basketball.
2010-11 Boxtorow.com Division II/NAIA HBCU All-America Team First Team
Sharif Bray, Cheyney
Paul Davis, Winston-Salem State
Marcus Goode, Benedict
Najee Lane, Clark Atlanta
Raheem Smith, Shaw
Second Team
David Burton, Cheyney
Braxton Byerson, Virginia Union
Mario Luckett, Tougaloo
Trevin Parks, Johnson C. Smith
Eric Vann, Bowie State
Third Team Devin Andrew, Xavier
Darius Cox, Livingstone
Josh Miller, West Virginia State
Lajay Sears, Stillman Anthony Simmons, Xavier
Player of the Year: Raheem Smith, Shaw
Coach of the Year: Cleo Hill, Shaw
Honorable Mention: Shelton Carter, Winston-Salem State; Andre Davis, SUNO; Sidney Evans, Fayetteville State; Kerry Harvis, Talladega; Tony Johnson, Kentucky State; Myron McGowan, Dillard; Denzel Mooney, Lincoln (Pa.); Ibn-Saed Rasoull, Saint Paul's; Maurice Reevy, Saint Paul's; Eric Salley, Claflin; Rondy Tucker, Elizabeth City State
NEW ORLEANS — Seven from Xavier University of Louisiana — Iva Bobkova, Brianna Dekine, Patrice Hightower, Danielle Jones, Marchelle Jones, Jamaan Kenner and Ashley Taylor — became XU's first members of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society on Tuesday.
The organization recognizes outstanding academic achievement by intercollegiate varsity letterwinners. Members must have junior academic standing and a minimum cumulative 3.4 grade-point average.
Xavier's first Chi Alpha Sigma members: From left, Iva Bobkova, Brianna Dekine, Danielle Jones,
Marchelle Jones, Ashley Taylor, Patrice Hightower and Jamaan Kenner.
Bobkova (women's volleyball) is from Brno, Czech Republic, and a graduate of Ludvika Danka and New Mexico Military Institute. Dekine (women's cross country) is from Culver City, Calif., and a graduate of Culver City High School. Hightower (women's volleyball) is from New Orleans and a graduate of McGehee School. Danielle Jones (volleyball in 2010, women's basketball from 2007-10) and her sister Marchelle (women's basketball) are from Baton Rouge, La., and graduates of Episcopal High School. Kenner (men's basketball) is from LaPlace, La., and a graduate of East St. John High School. Taylor (women's cross country) is from LaPlace and a graduate of New Orleans' Cabrini High School.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — William Carey swept three doubles matches and rolled to a 6-3 victory over Xavier University of Louisiana in a meeting of ranked NAIA men's tennis teams Sunday.
William Carey's 13th-ranked women defeated Xavier 8-1.
Carey's men (10-8), ranked 19th, avenged a 5-4 loss to the No. 8 Gold Rush (11-8) from four weeks ago at the AUM Invitational, when Xavier won two of three doubles matches. Jody Claassen and Thomas Rizk, a 9-8 loser to Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas in March, won 8-2 against the ITA's 15th-ranked tandem to give the Crusaders their first point of the dual. Anton Ivanov and Alvar Ribalta made it 3-0 when they beat Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson 9-8 (7-5), and Claassen clinched at No 1 singles when Giles-Osborn retired while trailing 5-7, 6-1, 1-0.
Abbas, Amir Rahbar and Richardson won in singles for Xavier. Abbas rallied to beat Toni Gauta 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 at No. 2, Rahbar defeated Younes Hidass 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 at No. 4, and Richardson beat Dominik Kardell 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6. But the Abbas and Rahbar victories came after the dual was decided.
Xavier (3-15) scored its only point of the women's dual when sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach snapped a three-match losing streak by holding off Anastasia Khabirova and Petra Pesic 8-6 at No. 2. But the Gold Nuggets again were shorthanded, defaulting the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches, and William Carey (12-5) clinched when Joyce Oliviera defeated Ashley McGill 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
Melissa DeLoach lost 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6) to Alexandra Kaluza at No. 3 in DeLoach's first singles super-tiebreaker of the season.
Both William Carey teams have four-dual win streaks. Xavier's men have lost three in a row, and the Gold Nuggets have lost four straight and 13 of their last 14.
Both Xavier teams will close the regular season this week — the Gold Rush at Tulane at 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Gold Nuggets against South Alabama at 11 a.m. Saturday at City Park — then travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for an NAIA National Championship qualifying tournament April 29-30.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Anthony Simmons received honorable mention on the All-Louisiana collegiate men's basketball team announced late Saturday.
Warren, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward from Rochester, N.Y., and a graduate of Allendale Columbia School, averaged nine points and 5.5 rebounds in 32 games with 19 starts for the Gold Rush, which was 27-6 and earned an at-large bid to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship. Simmons was Xavier's No. 2 scorer and rebounder and led the team with a .598 field-goal percentage.
All-Louisiana Basketball Honorable Mention
Anthony Simmons
Simmons helped the XU men record their first 13-0 start since 1940-41 and their winningest season since 1983-84.
A Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel selected the team.
2010-11 LSWA All-Louisiana Men's Basketball Team First Team
Anatoly Bose, Nicholls State
Kendall Timmons, Tulane
Pat Richard, McNeese State
Olu Ashaolu, Louisiana Tech
Ryan Brock, Loyola
Second Team
William Mosley, Northwestern State
Will Pratt, Northwestern State
Diego Kapelan, McNeese State
Zach Kinsley, New Orleans Justin Patton, Grambling
Third Team
Eric Young, LSU-Shreveport
J.J. Thomas, Louisiana-Lafayette
Derrick Parker, LSU-Shreveport
Fred Brown, Louisiana-Monroe
DeAndre Brown, Louisiana Tech
Player of the Year: Anatoly Bose, Nicholls State
Newcomer of the Year: Eric Young, LSU-Shreveport
Freshman of the Year: J.J. Thomas, Louisiana-Lafayette
Coach of the Year: Dave Simmons, McNeese State
NEW ORLEANS — Two men from Xavier University of Louisiana — junior Zach Taylor and senior Hassan Abbas — are ranked nationally in NAIA singles and doubles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The rankings, the first of the spring semester, were announced this week.
Taylor is 23rd and Abbas 39th in singles, and as a doubles team they're 15th. In the NAIA's South rankings, Taylor is eighth, Abbas 14th and Steffen Giles-Osborn 20th in singles. Taylor and Abbas are fifth in doubles, and Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson are 10th.
The women's doubles team of Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson is 14th in the South.
Taylor is from Monroe, La., and a graduate of St. Frederick High School. Abbas is from Saltaire, England, and a graduate of Bingley Grammar School. Both are graduates of Ventura College.
Giles-Osborn is a junior from Atlanta and a graduate of Westlake High, and Richardson is from Ellenwood, Ga., and a graduate of Stockbridge High. Brown is a home-schooled freshman from Decatur, Ga., and Nelson is a sophomore from Jonesboro, Ga., and a Faith Academy graduate.
The fifth NAIA team rankings of the season will be announced Tuesday.
Where the NAIA ranks Xavier tennis Men's Singles
Zach Taylor: 23rd nationally, 8th in South
Hassan Abbas: 39th nationally, 14th in South
Steffen Giles-Osborn: 20th in South Men's Doubles
Zach Taylor and Hassan Abbas: 15th nationally, 5th in South
Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson: 10th in South Women's Doubles
Amber Brown and Carmen Nelson: 14th in South
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana announced Thursday that a 4,500-seat Convocation Academic Center will be constructed across Washington Avenue and near the main campus on a site bounded by Short, Palm and Stroelitz streets.
Test pilings were driven into the site earlier this year. Construction is expected to begin in May, with anticipated completion in late summer 2012.
The facility will include a 4,500-seat arena suitable for athletic and other large-scale events. It will become the home of Xavier men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball and replace The Barn, a 1,300-seat gymnasium opened in 1937.
"This new arena will be a tremendous addition for Xavier athletics," XU Athletics Director Dennis Cousin said. "It will upgrade our already excellent programs and take them a notch higher. It will be a big boost to us in recruiting."
The Convocation Academic Center also will contain classrooms, offices and meeting spaces. A regulation-size auxiliary basketball court also will be included to add flexibility in scheduling practices for the basketball and volleyball teams.
Manning Architects'rendering of Xavier's Convocation Academic Center, which is expected to be completed in late summer 2012.
"This is an exciting time for Xavier," women's basketball coach Bo Browder said. "We've been blessed with a lot of fun, a lot of success and a lot of great memories in The Barn. But I'm looking forward to this new arena and creating some new memories."
A pedestrian bridge will be constructed across Washington Avenue to help the Xavier community better access the new building. And for Xavier athletics, the progress does not stop there.
"There also are plans to construct tennis courts in the near future not far from the Convocation Academic Center," Cousin said. "This will give our nationally ranked tennis teams the ability to not only practice on campus but to also host dual matches, something we haven't done in decades."
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Auburn Montgomery continued its tennis dominance of Xavier University of Louisiana, beating the Gold Rush 9-0 and the Gold Nuggets 7-0 Saturday at City Park.
AUM is 10-0 the last eight seasons against XU's men and 7-0 the last seven seasons against XU's women.
The closest matches were in the men's dual, where XU singles players Zach Taylor and Steffen Giles-Osborn split sets. But both lost third-set super tiebreakers — Bence Toth beat Taylor 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 2, and Loic Didavi defeated Giles-Osborn 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 3 in a matchup of top-30 NAIA singles players.
Bruno Savi and Claudio Andrade, the NAIA's top-ranked doubles team, beat Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson 8-2 at No. 2.
In the women's dual Xavier's Carmen Nelson lost 6-2, 6-3 to ninth-ranked Jade Curtis at No. 2 singles in the Gold Nuggets' most competitive match. The Lady Senators won all 12 sets, seven without dropping a game.
AUM's men are ranked third in the NAIA and the defending national champion, and the women are fourth. Both teams are 14-2. Xavier's men (11-6) are eighth, and the women (3-12) are receiving votes and 27th overall.
Both Xavier teams will play Fisk in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference duals at 1 p.m. next Saturday at City Park.
NEW ORLEANS -- Xavier University of Louisiana, in the first collegiate matches on the newly dedicated hard courts at City Park Tennis Center, defeated city rival Loyola 6-3 in the women's dual and 9-0 in the men's dual Friday.
The Gold Nuggets (3-11) snapped a nine-dual losing streak, and the Gold Rush (11-5), ranked eighth in the NAIA, have won two straight and three of four.
The City Park courts were dedicated Thursday, and Xavier will play all remaining home matches there this season.
XU's women again defaulted the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches because of an incomplete roster but won six of the seven completed matches. Carmen Nelson snapped her 10-match singles losing streak by defeating Loyola's Katie Beargie 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2. Nicole DeLoach clinched the dual by beating Cristiana Krtalic 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4.
Nelson and the DeLoach sisters won in singles and doubles. Melissa DeLoach did not lose a game; she and Nicole DeLoach defeated Frances Bonnin and Beargie 8-0 at No. 2 doubles, then Melissa beat Bonnin 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.
Loyola's women (1-6) have lost six in a row, and the men (1-5) have lost five in a row. The Wolfpack's lone victory in a non-forfeited match was Claire Landry's 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) decision against Amber Brown at No. 1. Brown, a freshman, is 0-4 in third-set super-tiebreakers this season.
Xavier's men dropped four games in nine matches and lost their fewest games in six completed singles matches (two) since Feb. 23, 2008, against Belhaven. Zach Taylor's 6-0, 6-0 decision against Joshua Laviolette at No. 2 clinched the dual, and teammates Hassan Abbas, Sean Richardson, Amir Rahbar and Jonathan Aubrey also won 6-0, 6-0. Richardson didn't drop a game in the dual; he and Steffen Giles-Osborn won 8-0 at No. 2 doubles against Jordan Hunting and Laviolette.
Both Xavier teams will play Auburn Montgomery -- whose men are ranked third and women fourth in the NAIA -- at 4 p.m. Saturday at City Park. AUM's men are the defending NAIA champion. Xavier's Sunday duals at the University of New Orleans were postponed by mutual agreement and will be rescheduled for April.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana maintained its program-record No. 8 position in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll announced Tuesday. It's the first time an XU tennis team has been in consecutive top 10s.
The Gold Rush (10-5) have appeared in 28 consecutive top 25s dating to April 4, 2007, and it's the 19th straight time dating to April 30, 2008, that the Gold Rush are among the top 18. This is the second XU men's team of 2010-11 to make the top 10 in consecutive polls — the basketball team did it in December.
XU's men will play four times before the next poll on April 5, including three duals in as many days beginning Friday. The Gold Rush will play Loyola at 3:30 p.m. Friday and third-ranked Auburn Montgomery at 4 p.m. Saturday — both at City Park Tennis Center — and visit NCAA Division I New Orleans at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Fresno Pacific is No. 1 for the 11th consecutive poll. Embry-Riddle (Fla.) replaced Auburn Montgomery at No. 2 after defeating the Senators 7-2 on March 14. AUM is the defending NAIA champion and winner of four of the last five championships.
NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through Sunday, March 20) Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Fresno Pacific (9) 12-2 219 1
2 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 7-5 207 3
3 Auburn Montgomery 13-2 203 2
4 Azusa Pacific 10-3 199 4
5 Oklahoma Christian 11-1 197 5
6 Point Loma Nazarene 8-2 184 6
7 Westmont 5-4 177 7 8 Xavier 10-5 169 8
9 Concordia (Calif.) 4-8 164 9
10 Union (Ky.) 10-4 156 11
11 Graceland 3-4 145 10
12 Vanguard 4-9 142 13
13 Shorter 6-1 139 12
14 St. Thomas (Fla.) 8-2 127 14
15 Lewis-Clark State 7-7 122 15
16 Aquinas 13-2 104 19
17 Webber International 12-3 100 18
18 Cumberland 3-1 95 RV
19 Olivet Nazarene 10-0 85 21
20-tie McKendree 5-1 84 20
20-tie Campbellsville 6-4 84 RV
22 Lee (Tenn.) 1-4 69 22
23 Tennessee Wesleyan 3-2 66 16
24 Martin Methodist 4-4 62 17
25 SCAD Savannah 3-3 57 24
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 17, 2011) -- Senior guard Spud Harbour scored 27 points Thursday to lead Evangel University to a 79-71 victory over Xavier University of Louisiana in the opening round of the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.
The Crusaders (26-8), from Springfield, Mo., shot 52.8 percent from the floor and earned their 11th consecutive victory. They'll play second-ranked Concordia (Calif.) in the second round at 2:15 p.m. Friday. Xavier, ranked 17th and in the national tournament for the first time since 2008, finished 27-6 with its winningest season since 1983-84.
Senior guard Michael Harvey, in his final Xavier game, led the Gold Rush with 18 points, including a career-high-tying four 3-pointers. Chris Iles had 16 points and four assists, Cordell Hadnot had eight points and eight rebounds, and Denzell Erves had eight points and seven rebounds. In the first half Harvey scored 11 points, and Iles had 10 after going 4-of-4 from the floor.
The 2010-11 Xavier University of Louisiana 27-6 men's basketball team. Head Coach Dannton Jackson, Eighth season at Xavier, 179 wins 81 losses 17 of 18 seniors to play for Coach Jackson have earned degrees from Xavier; 1 still enrolled
(Photo courtesy of Xavier University)
Evangel, ranked 15th in the final coaches poll, spent more than 38½ minutes with the lead. Xavier's only advantage was at 7-6, and there were ties at 3 and 44 before Evangel went ahead to stay on Chad Gillaspy's basket with 16:49 remaining. The Crusaders stretched their lead to 68-56 on Mitch McHenry's basket with 7:17 remaining, then made 8-of-8 free throws in the final 3:15 after Xavier closed the gap to 71-69 on Hadnot's free throw at 3:29.
Harbour scored 15 points to help Evangel lead 39-34 at halftime. Harbour finished with three 3-pointers, three assists and 10-of-11 free throws.
McHenry made 7-of-10 from the floor and scored a season-high 17 points, all in the second half, for Evangel, and Gillaspy had 15 points, 7-of-11 field goals, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Evangel was the first team this season to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor against Xavier, which entered the game in the top five nationally in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense. The Gold Rush shot 45.9 percent but made 1-of-8 from 3-point range after hitting 5-of-9 in the first half.
Harvey finished his career with 143 3-pointers. He scored Xavier's first points on a trey at 18:42, giving him sole possession of fourth place on Xavier's all-time list. He entered the game tied with Michael Varnado, who played from 2001-05.
Xavier lost in the first round at nationals for the ninth time in its last 10 appearances. The Gold Rush are 4-12 in 12 appearances, and each of the last five losses was by single digits.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director Xavier University of Louisiana Visit: XULA Athletics
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (March 11, 2011) — Hassan Abbas, Steffen Giles-Osborn and Sean Richardson won in doubles and singles Friday, leading NAIA No. 8 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 6-0 men's tennis victory over Georgetown (Ky.) in the AUM Invitational.
Xavier's women, ranked 24th, suffered their fifth consecutive loss in a 5-1 decision against No. 13 Lindsey Wilson.
The Gold Rush (9-4), winless in this event a year ago, bounced back from two straight losses over the past three days. Abbas and Zach Taylor scored the first point when they defeated Benjamin Aspillaga and Jose Baeza 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Amir Rahbar and Jonathan Aubrey made it 2-0 when they beat Carlos Del Valle and Alec Lewis 8-0 at No. 3 — it was Rahbar and Aubrey's first shutout of the season — and Giles-Osborn and Richardson completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 decision against Gustavo Echeverria and Zach Thomas.
In singles Richardson gave Xavier a 4-0 lead when he defeated Thomas 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5. Giles-Osborn snapped his three-match singles losing streak and clinched the dual with his 6-1, 6-1 victory against Echeverria at No. 3. Soon afterward Abbas wrapped up a 6-0, 6-3 victory against Baeza at No. 2, and the other three matches were stopped with Xavier leading by a set in each.
Abbas, the Gold Rush leader in singles winning percentage and combined winning percentage last season, is 10-3 in singles and 10-3 in doubles this year.
The highlight of the Nuggets' loss to Lindsey Wilson was senior Melissa DeLoach's 6-3, 6-0 victory against Edelmira Ferri at No. 4 singles. Also playing well was freshman Amber Brown at No. 2, who won a second-set tiebreaker against Slavica Milanovic but lost 10-7 in a third-set super-tiebreaker. Milanovic was ranked 12th nationally in the preseason by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Trina Slapeka, ranked sixth in singles, beat XU's Carmen Nelson 6-2, 6-3 at the top flight. Slapeka and Milanovic, ranked eighth in doubles, beat Nelson and Brown 8-1 to score the first point of the dual.
The XU women will play Campbellsville at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and the men will play unbeaten and fifth-ranked Oklahoma Christian at 12:30 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana will offer a four-day basketball camp June 27-30 for boys and girls ages 6-16 at The Barn.
