Erves is GCAC Player of the Week for third time this year

Denzell Erves

NEW ORLEANS — Denzell Erves, one of the leaders in Xavier University of Louisiana's drive to a second consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season championship in men's basketball, has been chosen GCAC Player of the Week. Erves has been honored a league-high three times this season in this sport, and he has won six times in his final two seasons.

Erves, a 6-foot-7 senior forward from Vicksburg, Miss., and a graduate of Vicksburg High School, won the award for Feb. 18-24 after averaging 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots and shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 87.5 percent from the line in two games, both XU victories. Erves produced his NAIA Division I-leading 16th double-double of the season (15 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high-tying six blocked shots) in Xavier's 75-54 victory at Tougaloo — the first Gold Rush victory at Tougaloo since 2005. Then he scored a game-high 17 points, 11 during a 16-3 run in the first six minutes, in Xavier's 70-46 home victory against city rival Dillard. During that run he became the 26th Gold Rush player to reach 1,000 careeer points.

Xavier (24-6) will play Dillard (3-20) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the GCAC Tournament at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Ark.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

XULAATHLETICS

XU freshman Montrel selected GCAC Player of the Week

Kyle Montrel

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Kyle Montrel, a winner in doubles and singles against NCAA Division I's Louisiana-Lafayette, is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in men's tennis.

Montrel, a freshman from Atlanta and a graduate of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, won the award for Feb. 18-24 after teaming with Loic Didavi for an 8-4 victory against the Ragin' Cajuns' Rick de Groot and Jake Wynan at No. 1 doubles and a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles against Edgar Lopez on Tuesday.

Montrel, who lived in New Orleans through fifth grade before moving to Atlanta, is 6-0 in doubles with Didavi and 4-2 in singles this semester.

The Gold Rush, ranked 10th in the NAIA, will play No. 12 Belhaven at 3 p.m. Thursday at the new XU Tennis Center. Xavier's 11th-ranked women also will play at that time against 22nd-ranked Belhaven.

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

Hammond's Three Secures Win For UAPB Golden Lions

PINE BLUFF, Arkansas  --  With just seconds left on the clock, The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions Tevin Hammond knocked down a three pointer to take the lead 70-73. UAPB was assessed a technical foul because of the crowd rushing the court; at which point Jackson State would make two free throws to give the game its final, 73-72.

Tonight was also Senior Night, as Athletics Director Lonza Hardy, Jr and Head Coach George Ivory honored the five seniors on this year's team in brief ceremony preceding the game.

Jackson State started the game off on 5-0 run, when Willie Readus hit a jumper in the lane, just 2:10 in the ballgame. The Tigers would see their lead grow six to at the 14:28 mark. The lead would change hands three times before the Golden Lions regained the lead on a Marcel Mosley lay-up, 30-29.

UAPB would carry a four point lead in to the locker room for halftime, 35-31.

In the second half, the Golden Lions lead ballooned to nine, 48-39, with 14:22 left in regulation. The Tigers would battle back over the next nine minutes to tie the game, 56-56 with 5:41 left in regulation. Jackson State took the lead once again, 61-59, on a Kelsey Howard three pointer with four minutes left.

The Golden Lions knotted the game at 70, on two free throws by Lazabian Jackson, with just five seconds left. UAPB's Marcel Mosley stole the inbounds pass and passed it to Davon Haynes who found Hammonds on the wing for a wide open three; at which point the fans rushed the floor resulting in the technical foul.

Jackson was the high point scorer for the Golden Lions with 23 points. He also knocked down seven three pointers, while grabbing seven rebounds and four steals. Terrell Kennedy, playing in his final game, along with Jackson, Kyle Jones, Mitchell Anderson and Demetrius Smith, had 16 points, with eight rebounds, five blocks, and three steals. Hammonds ended up with eleven, Davon Haynes knocked down 10.

The Golden Lions travel to Itta Bena, MS to take on the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State on February, 28. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM. 

Box Score


COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF SPORTS INFORMATION

Texas Southern Tigers win 10th straight game behind an impressive night from Sturdivant

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  -- The Texas Southern Tigers basketball defeated Alabama State team tonight capturing the10^th straight win for TSU. The victory moves Texas Southern into a two-way tie for first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and sets up a showdown for the regular season title on Thursday.

After trailing by 10 at halftime the Hornets came out in the second half and outscored TSU 10-0 to even the score at 36 after a three point field goal five minutes into the half.

Texas Southern led 38-37 with 14:13 left in the game and held ASU to scoring two points over the next eight minutes as the Tigers began to pull away. With 6:14 left in the game, TSU had pulled out to a 57-39 lead and subsequently closed the door on any chances of an Alabama State comeback.

From there ASU would not get any closer as TSU went on to win the game by the final 20-point margin of victory. TSU had four players reach double digits led by Fred Sturdivant's 22 points. Aaron Clayborn and Lawrence Danner-Johnson added 12 and Ray Penn had 10 points.

TSU broke out on top in the first half scoring 19 of the game's first 23 points led by Danner's nine points and went on to lead 36-26 heading into halftime. TSU shot 48 percent in the first half compared to only 29 percent for the Hornets.

In the first half of play Sturdivant led the Tigers with 12 points on six of eight shooting. He also had five blocked shots and seven rebounds.

“Fred played outstanding basketball for us tonight on both ends of the floor,” said TSU head coach Mike Davis. “Defensively we got stops when we needed to and we did a great job of contesting their shot attempts in the second half.”

Inside the Numbers
TSU shot 45 percent from the field for the game and hit seven three point field goals. They also outrebounded the Hornets 47-37 with Sturdivant's game-high 13 leading the way. TSU held the Hornets to their second consecutive sub-par shooting game as ASU only shot 34 percent from the field for the game.

Up Next
Texas Southern will host the Southern Jaguars at the H&PE Arena on Thursday, February 28 at 8:30 pm. TSU will host its home finale on Saturday, March 2 against Alcorn State. Tip-off time for that contest is also slated for 8:00 pm. Saturday will also be Senior Night for the Tigers basketball program.

Tiger Notables
Texas Southern concluded SWAC regular season play with a 7-2 record on the road. Fred Sturdivant tallied six blocked shots against Alabama State. The Tigers had a total of four players score in double figures against Alabama State. Texas Southern leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference in points scored per game.


COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION 

2013 SIAC Basketball Tournament: Day 1 Recap

Game 1: Fort Valley rolls past Lane
#4E Fort Valley State 100, #5W Lane 101

Atlanta, GA- Jayme Gilbert scored a game-high 19 points and was one of five players to score in double figures to help #4E Fort Valley State University cruise to a 100-61 win over #5W Lane College in the opening round of the 2013 SIAC Women's Basketball Tournament played at Franklin L. Forbes Arena in Atlanta, GA.

The #4 seed in the East, Fort Valley State University, (14-12), dominated the #5 seed in the West, Lane early with pressure defense and fast break points.

The win placed the Lady Wildcats in the quarterfinals against the top seed in the West, the Lady Golden Tigers of Tuskegee University, Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m.

With the loss the Lady Dragons were eliminated from the tournament.

The game, however, started off well for the Lane as the Lady Dragons held an early lead 4-1 in the first three minutes of play. After a time-out by Lady Wildcats’ Coach Lonnie Bartley and mass substitutions, on the next three possessions the Lady Wildcats took the lead the5-4, and never looked back in rout to the 39 point victory.

Lane, (7-18), was led by Marissa Stewart with 16 points, followed by Katora Fleming with 14 points.
Antionna Jefferson added 16 points, D’Ambria Thomas had 14 points, Dominique Collier chip in with 13 points, while Briana Shepherd had 10 points to round up the players scoring in double figures.

Game 2: Claflin pulls away in the final minutes to sneak past Lane
#4E Claflin 79, #5W Lane 68

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SIAC Tournament: Fort Valley State women advance

ATLANTA, Georgia  --  Jayme Gilbert scored a game-high 19 points and was one of five players to score in double figures to help Fort Valley State cruise to a 101-61 win over Lane College in the opening round of the 2013 SIAC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Atlanta.

The #4 seed in the East, Fort Valley State (14-12), dominated the #5 seed in the West, Lane, early with pressure defense and fast-break points.

The win placed the Lady Wildcats in the quarterfinals against the top seed in the West, the Lady Golden Tigers of Tuskegee University, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. With the loss, the Lady Dragons were eliminated from the tournament.

Benedict claimed the East Division title and received the top-seed from the division and first-round bye. Tuskegee swept through the West Division to garner the top-seed from its division and first-round bye, as well. East and West Division runners-up, Clark Atlanta and Benedict, in addition, received first-round byes.

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Claflin pulls away in final minutes to top Lane

ATLANTA — Claflin University used a late run to create distance in a 79-68 victory over Lane College on Monday in the opening round of the 2013 SIAC Men’s Basketball Tournament being played through Saturday at Franklin L. Forbes Arena on the campus of Morehouse College.

Claflin’s Jarrod Denard led all scorers with a game-high 22 points. Michael Jones tallied 18 points and David Glover tossed in 11, all off the Panthers’ bench to lead Claflin to a quarterfinal match-up Wednesday afternoon at 3:15 against #1 West seed Tuskegee.

Trailing 32-28 at the half, Claflin found it difficult to shake off the physical play of the Dragons until midway through the second half when the Panthers took a 56-54 lead.

With less than two minutes remaining, Claflin built its largest lead of the contest at 77-65. Free throws down the stretch proved to be crucial for the Panthers, who converted on 6-6 as they advanced in the tournament.

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