Box Score MOBILE, Ala. — Jeremy Price scored eight of his
24 points in overtime Thursday to lead Spring Hill to a 77-74 men's basketball
victory over Xavier University of Louisiana in the quarterfinals of the
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Badgers, 18-10 and seeded fourth, advanced to
the semifinals and will play host to eighth-seeded Mobile at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Xavier, 19-12 and seeded fifth, ended its season with three consecutive
losses and ended a streak of five straight 20-victory seasons.
Kelechi Okoroha had 18 points and 10 rebounds
for the Gold Rush, and
Shaun Dumas scored 17. It was the final collegiate
game for both.
All five Badger starters scored in double figures.
Marcus Coleman scored 14, Antonio Burch 13, Owen McNally 11 and Nick Brown 10.
Xavier's last lead was 68-66 in overtime on Okoroha's
two free throws with 3:46 remaining. Spring Hill went ahead to stay at 2:02
when Price's basket made it 72-70.
Xavier had a pair of 10-point leads in the first half
and led 33-27 at halftime. Spring Hill rallied to take a 57-50 lead with 7:10
remaining in regulation.
Michael Harvey's 3-pointer with 47 seconds remaining
gave the Rush a 64-61 lead, but Coleman made a 3-pointer 24 seconds later to
force overtime. Harvey missed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation.
It was Xavier's first overtime loss in three seasons.
Spring Hill beat Xavier for the second time in eight days and was 3-0 against
the Rush this season.
Dumas, a three-time All-GCAC point guard, played
in his 129th game in four seasons to tie the Xavier career record set by
Merlin Peters from 1989-93. Dumas had 1,431 points, 599 assists and 380
steals with the Rush.
The victory was Robert Thompson's 100th in six seasons
at Spring Hill, and he moved into a third-place tie on the school's all-time list.
Mobile advanced by winning 66-55 at top-seeded Tougaloo.
Second-seeded LSU-Shreveport defeated seventh-seeded Dillard 85-67 and will
play host to sixth-seeded Belhaven — a 63-57 winner at third-seeded
Loyola — in the other semifinal. The tournament winner will receive
the GCAC's second automatic bid to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National
Championship at Kansas City, Month. Tougaloo earned the first automatic bid by
winning the regular-season championship.
