Josh Freeman drives to the basket in his Xavier debut.
Yamlak Tsega / XULA Athletics
82
Belhaven BU 0-1
93
Winner Xavier XAV 1-0
Belhaven BU
0-1
82
Final
93
Xavier XAV
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Belhaven BU 40 42 82
Xavier XAV 47 46 93

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

13th-ranked Rush stretch win streak in openers to 19


     NEW ORLEANS — Senior guard Anthony Goode scored 20 points Wednesday to lead NAIA No. 13 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 93-82 men's basketball victory against Behaven.
     It was the 19th consecutive season that the Gold Rush won the opening game.
     Goode, who averaged 10.1 points last season, was 6-of-10 from the floor, 2-of-5 on 3-pointers and 6-of-7 from the line in 24 1/2 minutes. He had three assists and blocked two shots.
     Jarvis Thibodeaux scored a career-high 17 points for the Gold Rush, and Troy Salvant — a 26-year-old freshman guard who spent the past seven years in the Army — scored 13.
     Jordan Bedford made six 3-pointers and scored 26 points for the Blazers (0-1). Jerrial Dawson scored 14, and Kyle Patterson had 11.
     Gary Smith's 3-pointer at 15:00 of the first half put the Gold Rush ahead to stay, 13-10. Xavier led 47-40 at halftime and held its biggest lead, 74-50, on Josh Freeman's free throw with 9:57 remaining.
     Xavier outshot the Blazers 51.7 to 47.3 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 36-28. Belhaven made 11 3-pointers.
     "It was an exciting game for the fans with all those points scored," said XU coach Dannton Jackson, who is 250-107 in his 12th season. "We probably had a few jitters. I'm glad we got this one behind us.
     "What I liked most was that we showed the ability to put points on the board. Our two all-conference players (Sydney Coleman and Morris Wright) did not play well and we still put a lot of points on the board."
     Xavier will play host to Carver College at 7 p.m. Friday. Belhaven's next game will be its home opener, 7 p.m. Monday against Xavier.

 
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