Box Score      NEW ORLEANS — Michael Harvey scored 18 of his career-high 25 points in the first half Saturday and led Xavier University of Louisiana to a 66-54 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over SUNO at The Castle.
     The Gold Rush (10-6 overall, 1-3 GCAC) snapped a four-game losing streak and won for the first time this season on an opponent's court.
     Harvey scored Xavier's first 13 points and put the Rush ahead to stay at 8-5 when he made a 3-pointer at 15:40 of the first half. Xavier led 33-24 at halftime and took its biggest lead, 40-24, on Cordell Hadnot's basket with 17:41 remaining. The Rush led by double digits for most of the second half.
     Harvey was 10-of-14 from the floor and made a career-best four 3-pointers for the second time in three nights.
     "(Harvey) is one of our leading scorers, and we wanted to get the ball to him early," Xavier Coach Dannton Jackson said.
     Hadnot and Ryan DeRousselle scored 12 points apiece for Xavier, and DeRousselle had a career-high-tying eight assists and a season-high three steals.
     "Ryan probably had his best all-around game since he's been at Xavier," Jackson said. "We need him to be solid at the point guard position."
     Lionel Green led SUNO (5-7, 0-4) with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Ricardo Porter scored 16 points and Brent Leduff had 12, and those two combined to make nine 3-pointers.
     The Rush got a boost when senior forward Landon Bussie, sidelined the past 14 games by an injury, scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds, all offensive, in 16 minutes off the bench. Bussie also had an assist, two steals and a blocked shot.
     SUNO suffered its first home loss of the season and has not beaten Xavier since January 2004. The Knights' second-year coach, Dale Valdery, is 0-3 against the school he coached from 1990-2002.
     Both teams will play GCAC road games at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Xavier will visit Mobile, and SUNO will travel to William Carey.