Gaston-Loyd's late basket gives XU 46-45 victory against LSUS

 
NEW ORLEANS -- Whitney Gaston-Loyd's basket with 6.3 seconds remaining Monday lifted Xavier University of Louisiana to a 46-45 women's basketball victory against LSU-Shreveport at the Convocation Center.

Gaston-Loyd, with 13 points, was the only double-figure scorer for the Gold Nuggets (3-1), who are ranked 11th in NAIA Division I.

Xavier outscored the Lady Pilots (3-1), ranked 19th, 9-3 after Sharde Henry's free throw gave LSUS a 42-36 lead with 6:44 remaining. Gaston-Loyd scored the Nuggets' final four points, including a basket at 2:10 which gave them their first lead in more than 13 minutes.

Henry scored 15 points and Jenna Diakos 13 for LSUS, and Victoria Smith had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Henry missed a running 3-pointer from the right side with two seconds remaining, and Diakos, who grabbed the rebound, could not beat the buzzer with a final shot.

Danielle Tucker had eight points and a season-best nine rebounds for Xavier, and Carmen Holcombe had a season-high seven points, a career-high-tying two blocked shots and a career-best four steals.

LSUS outshot Xavier 37.8 to 30.8 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Nuggets 42-38. Xavier got 33 points from its bench and had a 20-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

Angelica Alexander's basket gave Xavier its largest lead, 19-8, at 9:58 of the first half. Smith tied the score at 22 with two free throws,, and Tucker's basket with three second remaining gave the Nuggets a 24-22 halftime advantage.

Smith's basket with 16:59 remaining gave LSUS its first lead, 28-27.

Xavier will play NAIA No. 14 Langston at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Xavier Classic at the Convocation Center. It will be the Nuggets' third consecutive game against a ranked opponent. The other games Thursday will match Wiley against Tuskegee at 3 p.m. and Texas College against Dillard at 5 p.m.


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

TSU Men's Basketball Knocks Off South Alabama, 68-57

ATLANTA, Georgia  -- The Tennessee State men's basketball team notched its first win of the season with a 68-57 victory over the Jaguars of South Alabama.

Junior guard Patrick Miller led the Tigers in points, assists and steals with 14, eight and four, respectively.

Miller also had five of TSU's 46 rebounds. The Tigers had 15 more rebounds than their opponents.

TSU won the tip and within three seconds Covington had his first points of the game. The bucket set the tone early for the Tigers, as they started the game on a 13-2 run.

During the run, guards Jay Harris and Patrick Miller combined for 11 of the team's points. Harris was 3-3 in the stretch with a three-pointer.

South Alabama's Mychal Ammons got the Jaguars within six at 16-10 with a strong drive in the lane. The layup was just two of his half-high nine points during the period.

The Tigers kept a large cushion through the next seven minutes, and eventually went up by nine when a missed three by Jordan Cyphers was tip-slammed home by Michael Green.

A layup from Kellen Thornton with 2:30 left in the first period gave the Tigers a 13-point lead- their biggest of the half.

Another layup from Thornton made the score 36-24 in favor of TSU heading into the break.

TSU shot 45 percent from the floor during the first half which was nearly 15 points higher than its season average.

USA came out strong to start the second period and went on an 11-2 run to cut the TSU lead to three. The Tigers were 0-6 from the field during the run.

With the lead down to just a couple, the Tigers came roaring back with a 13-4 run that was sparked by a pair of buckets from Robert Covington.

Covington finished the game with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

After a bucket by South Alabama made the score 51-43, the TSU defense held pat and didn't allow the Jaguars to make a field goal for the next nine minutes.

During those nine minutes, DeShawn Dockery drained a three and Miller assisted Rhett on an alley-oop. Those scores, plus a handful of others, allowed TSU to extend its lead to as many as 21 with just minutes to go in the game.

USA ended the game on a 10-0 run, but it wasn't nearly enough, as TSU walked away with an eleven-point victory.

The Tigers will turn right around and play Georgia State tomorrow at 7 p.m. TSU then wraps up the week with a game against Monmouth on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
 

 

COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Coleman and Morgan Named Eddie Robinson Award Finalists

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff head coach Monte Coleman and Mississippi Valley State University head coach Karl Malone were selected as one of the 20 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented annually by the Sports Network to the top coach in FCS football.

The announcement was made Monday, November 19, 2012. The winner of the Eddie Robinson Award along with the other postseason honors will be announced at the FCS Awards Banquet and Presentation on Dec. 17 in Philadelphia. All 13 FCS conferences have at least one coach on the list.
Coach Coleman led the Golden Lions to the best regular-season record in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (9-2 overall and 8-1 conference). UAPB ran away with the West Division title and earned a spot in the conference championship game on December 8th in Birmingham, Ala. The Golden Lions will face Eastern Division champion, Jackson State. UAPB finished the regular season with six straight wins.

Under the direction of Morgan, the Delta Devils finished with a 5-6 record including a 5-4 record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. The win total is one more than their combined total from 2009-11. In his third season as head coach, Morgan's squad ranked fourth in the FCS in total defense during the regular season.

A panel of about 160 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries will select the Robinson Award winner, which is presented by The Sports Network.

The Eddie Robinson Award is awarded annually to college football's top head coach in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). The award was established by The Sports Network in 1987 and is voted upon by the division's sports information directors and selected sports writers. The award is named for Eddie Robinson, the College Football Hall of Fame coach, who retired in 1997 after 56 years at Grambling State University.

Along with the Walter Payton Award and Buck Buchanan Award, it is presented the night before the annual NCAA Division I Football Championship. All three awards are named after former players and coach of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

COURTESY SWAC.ORG

Rush can't handle Payne in first Convocation Center loss

NEW ORLEANS -- Guy Payne made 5-of-6 3-pointers and scored 34 points Monday to lead William Carey in a 78-68 men's basketball victory against NAIA No. 19 Xavier University of Louisiana.

It was the first loss in six games for Xavier (6-1) in its Convocation Center, which opened Nov. 3.

Payne, a 6-foot-6 junior forward in his first season at William Carey (5-0), was 12-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-8 from the line in 29 minutes. He entered the game averaging 9.3 points. Payne scored 20 points in the second half.

Jeremiah Dunnings scored 17 points and Donzedrick Smith 11 for the Crusaders, who took the lead for good at 25-22 on a Dunnings 3-pointer at 5:02 of the first half. William Carey led 35-31 at halftime and 48-32 after Smith's basket with 13:35 remaining.

Wanto Joseph scored 18 points and Anthony Simmons 17 for Xavier, and Denzell Erves had 12 points and 11 rebounds in his fifth double-double of the season and second in a row.

Gary Smith's basket in the 12th minute gave Xavier its final lead, 18-16.

Xavier outshot William Carey 48.1 to 42.6 percent from the floor, but the Crusaders outrebounded the Gold Rush 40-27. Xavier entered the game with a plus-13.2 rebound margin. Xavier made 12-of-17 free throws after attempting an average of 30.7 in its first six games.

William Carey played without two starters, one injured and the other suspended, and snapped Xavier's 13-game home win streak. It was the third XU loss in its last 51 non-conference home games.

It was the second victory in three nights against a ranked opponent for William Carey, which won 79-76 at home Saturday against NAIA No. 6 Southern Poly.

Xavier will play Concordia (Ala.) at. 2 p.m. Friday and Wiley at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Memphis HBCU Classic at Southwest Tennessee Community College.

BOX SCORE

By Ed Cassiere, SID
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

B-CU's Jenkins among finalists for Eddie Robinson Award

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida  --  The two coaches in Saturday's Football Championship Subdivision playoff game at Municipal Stadium were both named finalists Monday for the Eddie Robinson Award, given to the FCS national coach of the year.

Bethune-Cookman's Brian Jenkins and Coastal Carolina's Joe Moglia were among 20 coaches whose names will appear on the award ballot.

B-CU (9-2) will host Coastal Carolina (7-4) in a first-round playoff game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Municipal Stadium.

“Obviously this is an extreme honor to be named a finalist for an award of this magnitude,” Jenkins said. “This award not only shows the hard work of a head coach, his staff and players throughout the year, but also the hard work and dedication of a man for whom the award is named.

“Not only was (former Grambling State coach) Eddie Robinson an inspiration to me, but he paved the way for African-American coaches like myself and many more to reach new heights in the college football coaching ranks.”




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Tuskegee RB Derrick Washington a Finalist for Harlon Hill Trophy

#2 DERRICK WASHINGTON
TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY TIGERS

TUSKEGEE, Alabama --  The National Harlon Hill Trophy Committee announced today that Tuskegee running back Derrick Washington has been named a finalist for the 2012 Harlon Hill Trophy awarded to the Most Outstanding football player in Division II.

The 2012 SIAC Football Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, Washington, is one of eight finalists selected from a field of 24 candidates within the four Super Regions across Division II. The finalists were selected by the NCAA Division II sports information directors during regional voting and will now be placed on the national ballot where 155 of the division's SIDs will select the award's 27^th winner.

In his first and only season at Tuskegee, Washington, a transfer from University of Missouri, has been the lightning rod for Tuskegee's 9-1 record this year. As the seventh overall rusher in the nation, the Raymore, Missouri native, led the conference in rushing with 1,399 yards and 13 touchdowns while leading Tuskegee to its 26th SIAC Football Championship. He also averaged 8.1 yards per carry and rushed for more than 100 yards in six games, while running for 200-plus yards three times this season. In his last two outings, Washington rushed for 208 yards against Miles and 224 yards against Fort Valley State in the SIAC Championship game.

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WSSU's Sabb was ready when his time came

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  During his three seasons at Winston-Salem State, Coach Connell Maynor has quietly built a deep football team that can withstand injuries.

That depth came in handy in the CIAA championship game earlier this month, when offensive lineman Michael Page went down with a broken leg. As redshirt sophomore Michael Sabb trotted onto the field to take Page’s place, he wasn’t nervous.
“I was more concerned with how Michael was doing because I knew it wasn’t good when he went out,” said Sabb, who missed all of last season because of hip surgery. “I hate to see anybody go down — especially with him because he’s a senior and now his career is over.”

But the Rams’ season is not over. Sabb, who is from Raleigh, will be counted on to help a productive offensive line continue to be consistent. WSSU is averaging 44 points a game this season.

The Rams (11-0) had a cohesive five-man offensive line that knew the system very well. Other than Winston Hill, who went down early with a season-ending injury, the line was healthy — the same five players started the last 10 games. That will change Saturday when the Rams take on Shippensburg at noon at Bowman Gray Stadium in a second-round Division II playoff game.

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