Box Score IRVINE, Calif. — Travis Noble and Chris Johnson
scored seven points apiece Saturday during a second-half run which rallied
Montana State-Northern to a 78-65 men's basketball victory over Xavier
University of Louisiana in the Concordia Thanksgiving Tournament.
Noble finished with 27 points and Johnson 22 for the
Lights (10-3).
Harold Cleveland scored a season-high 13 points for Xavier (6-2),
and
Shaun Dumas had 12.
Xavier was 0-2 in the tournament and lost on consecutive
days for the first time since a California trip in December 2004. MSU-N was 1-1
in the tournament.
The Gold Rush, No. 14 in Victory Sports Network's NAIA
Divison I rankings, rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a 53-51 lead on Landon
Bussie's basket with 9:10 remaining. But Noble and Johnson keyed a 16-3 run during
the next six minutes to give MSU-N a 67-56 lead, and Xavier never came closer than
six points thereafter.
The Lights, one of four teams to earn a share of the
Frontier Conference regular-season championship in 2007-08, were 9-of-16 from
3-point range and made 29-of-33 free throws. The Lights were 7-of-8 from the line
in the final 48 seconds.
Cleveland — playing in his home state and scoring in
double figures for the fourth consecutive game — made a basket at 10:39 of the
first half to give Xavier its biggest lead, 10-4. But Johnson's jumper capped a
9-1 run which gave MSU-N a 13-11 advantage, and the Lights led 31-27 at halftime.
Xavier made 22-of-28 free throws and outshot MSU-N 50
to 46 percent from the floor. Xavier's defense produced a season-low three steals
one day after collecting a season-high 18. The Rush did not record its first
steal until 4:59 of the first half.
Concordia defeated MidAmerica Nazarene 81-73 in Saturday's
second game and was the tournament's only 2-0 team. MidAmerica Nazarene, which beat
Xavier 72-63 on Friday, was 1-1.
Xavier's next game will start at noon Saturday against
Paul Quinn at The Barn. It will be the final Gold Rush home game before Jan. 15.
