Rush win 5th straight; season-high 25 for Davison

MOBILE, Alabama — Virgil Davison scored a season-high 25 points Friday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to its fifth consecutive men's basketball victory, 61-49 against the University of Mobile.
     
Davison, a junior guard, made five 3-pointers in eight attempts. He was the only XULA player to score in double figures. Teammate Jeff Dixon had eight assists, and Rayshawn Mart had three steals.
     
The Gold Rush (11-4) led wire-to-wire and opened the game with a 13-2 run. It was 34-18 at halftime. XULA's largest lead was 42-20 after a Joseph Williams free throw with 15:02 remaining.
     
Will Stanford scored 12 points and Darius Curry 10 for the Rams (5-8).
    
 XULA outshot Mobile 44 to 33.3 percent from the floor and made eight 3-pointers to the Rams' three. Dixon made a pair of treys.
     
The Gold Rush swept the two-game regular-season series from the Rams. XULA won 17 of its last 19 meetings with Mobile.
     
XULA exceeded its victory total of last season, when it was 10-20. The win streak is XULA's longest since winning five in a row Feb. 16-March 7, 2015. XULA has not won six straight since an eight-game streak Jan. 10-Feb. 5, 2015.

XULA will break for Christmas, then play its first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference game of the season Jan. 8 at Edward Waters at 7:30 p.m. EST in Jacksonville, Fla. The next home game will be Jan. 17 against William Carey at the Convocation Center.

Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Hometown Heroes: Ocala native Eason acting interim FAMU AD

Dr. John Eason

OCALA, Florida -- Last month, Florida A&M needed a leadership change inside its athletic department after former athletic director Milton Overton accepted a job at Kennesaw State University. FAMU needed someone with experience and familiarity with the school itself to run the athletic department in the interim while the brass looked for a new full-time AD.

That person was none other than Dr. John Eason, 72, a 1963 graduate from Howard High School in Ocala.

After graduating from Howard, Eason played football and earned both his bachelors and masters degrees from FAMU. He earned his doctorate from FSU. Additionally, Eason was inducted into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

While the FAMU connections are great, the Rattlers brass still needed someone with plenty of experience in the college athletics world, as well as someone who would be able to oversee the university’s search for a new head football coach.

And again, they felt Eason was the best choice.

After a few years playing in both the NFL and CFL, Eason spent 12 seasons at Florida State as the receivers coach and then four years at South Carolina as offensive coordinator. In 2001, he went to Georgia with head coach Mark Richt to serve as receivers coach and assistant head coach. He would serve in that role at UGA until 2009, when he was named director of football operations with the Bulldogs.

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Meet Aaron Ray, Southern's high-energy sixth man and biggest surprise, says coach Morris Scott

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Specifically related to a box score, Southern coach Morris Scott knows what Southern will receive nightly from star forward Jared Sam. Points, rebounds and production that will overcrowd and cluster a stat sheet.

But to Scott, the biggest surprise of Southern's youthful and developing season is found elsewhere — and the first-year coach doesn't hesitate expressing he's proud.

"Aaron Ray," Scott said.

"I think he's really been a solid glue guy for us that can really come in and seems like every night when you look at the stat sheet, he's doing something positive."

"He's one of these guys that comes off the bench and brings with a lot of energy. Plays with a lot of effort, emotion. He's a competitor. He always wants to win."

Ray, a hyper and reliable spark as Southern's sixth man off the bench, enrolled at Southern as one of a handful of transfers Scott's program acquired during the past offseason. Hailing originally from Middleton, New York, Ray left Garden City Community College in Kansas and ventured south to Louisiana, where he now calls Southern's basketball team home.

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Get to know the recruits in JSU's 2018 recruiting class

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Here's a look at JSU's signees who pledged their services to JSU Wednesday:

Derrick Ponder, QB, Navarro CC (Texas): The latest addition to the 2018 Tiger recruiting class is the juco freshman from Bells, Texas. He's been on a shelf at Navarro for a year, but his senior year in high school, he attempted an average of 41 passes a game, completed better than 63 percent of them and threw for 4,000 yards, 47 touchdowns and 12 picks.

Kobe Gates, WR, Copiah-Lincoln CC: Originally signed with JSU out of high school before landing at Co-Lin. Had 15 catches for 172 yards and three TDs in nine games as a sophomore last year.

Ti’Morrius Conner, ATH, East Mississippi CC: A former Noxubee County standout who served as a backup as a sophomore last year at East Mississippi Community College. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 113 yards and ran 11 times for 23 yards and one score as a sophomore last year.

Ra’meik Wallace, WR, Hinds CC: A former Wayne County standout who caught 33 passes for 378 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore at Hinds last season.

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JSU gets 11th-hour commitment from Texas juco quarterback

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Tony Hughes and Hal Mumme have apparently found the guy to run their new offense.

JSU received a verbal commitment from Navarro College (Texas) quarterback Derrick Ponder Monday, a pro-style quarterback who has experience with the air raid scheme that Mumme helped invent.

After playing for his father, Scott Ponder, at Bells High School in Bells, Texas, Ponder redshirted in 2016 and served as a backup this season at Navarro.

He may have been watching at Navarro, but his last year as a starter — his senior year at Bells — the 6-foot-2, 200-pound quarterback attempted 41 passes a game, completed better than 63 percent of them and threw for 4,001 yards, 47 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

"That's my background, the air raid," Ponder said late Monday evening. "I'm familiar with coach Mumme and I've always followed his career, so getting a chance to play under he and coach Hughes, who I have great respect for, is just too good an opportunity to pass up."

Ponder, who still has three years of eligibility left, visited Jackson for the first time last weekend and got a chance to meet Hughes, check out JSU's campus and sit down and talk offense with Mumme.



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SCSU settles lawsuit in 2014 shooting death of Football Player

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- South Carolina State University and related groups have settled a lawsuit involving the shooting death of one of its students for $437,000.

Lawyers for the estate of junior football player Brandon Robinson said the university didn’t do enough to protect him before he was killed on Jan. 24, 2014.

“We are pleased to bring some resolution to this unfortunate incident,” attorney Shane Burroughs said. “Initially, we believed that additional security or campus police would have prevented this tragedy from occurring.

“However, we discovered throughout the course of the case several institutional failures that we believe contributed to the shooting and Brandon’s death.”

The 20-year-old Robinson graduated from O-W in 2011 and was set on attending S.C. State with the hopes of becoming an engineer.

He played as an outside linebacker and defensive end for the S.C. State Bulldogs.

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Cole, Williams Propel Howard Bison Over UNC--Wilmington Seahawks

EL PASO, Texas – Freshman RJ Cole and sophomore Charles Williams combined for 72 points and propelled the Howard University Men's Basketball team over UNC-Wilmington (UNCW), 80-75, at the Weststar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational. As a result, HU placed third in the historic tournament.

"The young freshman [RJ Cole] and [Charles] Williams took over the game with a lot of help," said Kevin Nickelberry, Howard Men's Basketball head coach. "[There's] a lot of things that don't show up in the box score. We did a lot of screens to get them open. The extra rebound by Jalen Jones and free throws down the stretch were key."

Cole produced with a new career-high 42 points, including 32 after intermission. His 42 points set a new freshman record in program history. The New Jersey native shot 59-percent (13-of-22) from the floor, including 5-of-8 from long range. He also added six boards, four dimes, and four steals in the win.

Williams tied a season-high 30 points after shooting 11-of-19 from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from downtown, in the victory.

"These are two special guards," Nickelberry stated. "They both do a lot of different things. They're getting better and use to each other. They're learning to become a tandem and that's going to be scary down the road."

Overall, the Bison shot a season-best 50-percent (26-of-52) against the defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Champions, including 56-percent (9-of-16) from beyond the arc.

UNCW's Ty Taylor made two freebies and gave the Seahawks their largest lead of the game, 50-39, with 16:16 remaining. For the next 10 minutes, HU trimmed the deficit down to single-digits and kept themselves in striking distance.

With under five minutes left, Cole drilled a long ball and cut the margin down one, 70-69. A minute later, Cole made a jumper and gave Howard their first lead of the game with 3:07 remaining, 71-70.

UNC-Wilmington regained the lead with more than two minutes left, 74-72, but Williams connected on a jumper and tied the contest at 74.

With less than 90 seconds remaining, a steal and layup from Cole put HU ahead for good. Cole and fellow classmate Zion Cousins made clutch free throws down the stretch to give Howard the victory.

Cousins had a team-high seven boards in the victory.

Williams made a jumper and tied the game with 14:26 left before halftime, 10-10. UNCW regained the advantage and extended its lead as much as 10 with more than three minutes remaining in the period, 36-26.

Williams kept HU in the game, scoring 18 of his 30 points in the first half. UNC-Wilmington took an eight-point advantage at the break, 40-32.

"All year, we've been telling the guys to trust the process," Nickelberry continued. "We were down, and we challenged them. My gut was telling me to go into a zone, but for us to win, we need to play man-to-man. RJ Cole said, 'let's go man' and we went man. Tonight, they trusted the process."

For UNCW (2-9), they shot a respectable 44-percent (27-of-61) from the floor. Devontae Cacok recorded a double-double, posting 19 points and 17 rebounds. Taylor chipped in 14 points in a losing effort.

On Dec. 30, HU concludes its nonconference schedule with a road contest at Hawaii. Tipoff is slated for midnight (ET) / 7 p.m. (HT).

For more information, visit the Bison Athletics website at www.HUBison.com.

BOX SCORE

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