Box Score  

    NEW ORLEANS — Mark Stewart scored 21 points, and Kelechi Okoroha added a career-high 18 Saturday to lead Xavier University to an 81-69 men's basketball victory against Huston-Tillotson at The Barn.
     It was the third time this season Stewart scored 20 or more points. Okoroha scored all his points in the second half and was 8 of 9 from the floor after the break.
     Olumide Olafioye scored 15 points, and Shaun Dumas had 11 points and a season-high 10 assists for the Gold Rush (6-1), which maintained its lead after outscoring the Rams 9-0 in the first 6 1/2 minutes.
     Doug Krause scored 17 points, Andy Laitinen 13 and Jermaine Smith 10 for Huston-Tillotson (0-7), which lost to Xavier for the second time this season.
     Stewart made two free throws in the 15th minute to give Xavier its biggest lead, 26-10, before the Rams cut the margin to 32-30 at 17:48 of the second half. Xavier then scored the next seven points and never led by less than five points thereafter.
     Xavier outshot Huston-Tillotson 48 to 39 percent from the floor and limited the Rams to 4 of 24 from 3-point range.
     The Gold Rush's next game will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Wiley. Xavier's next home game will start at 7 p.m. Jan. 6 against Mobile.