NEW ORLEANS — The
Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball team was back home Saturday
— and back in a familiar groove.
The XU men made at least half their field-goal attempts
for the fourth consecutive home game and pulled away late to earn a 71-62
homecoming victory against LeMoyne-Owen.
Xavier, 6-1 and ranked 19th in NAIA Division I, made its final seven field-goal attempts
to finish at 50 percent for the game.
Morris Wright — 9-of-14 from
the floor and 5-of-8 on 3-pointers — scored a season-high 25 points and
led the Rush in scoring for the 10th consecutive time dating to last season.
RJ Daniels scored a season-high 16 points and made a career-high-tying three 3-pointers.
Lucas Martin-Julien, scoring in double figures for the first time in five
games, had 11 points and a career-best eight assists.
Martin-Julien and
Gary Smith also made 3-pointers to
help the Rush finish 10-of-19 from behind the arc. It was an encouraging
turnaround from Tuesday, when the Rush made a season-worst 24.6 percent from
the floor (2-of-12 3-pointers) in a 54-39 loss at Mobile.
Xavier led 31-28 at halftime, but the Magicians (0-4) rallied to take
their largest lead, 39-34, on a Desmond Black 3-pointer with 15:16 remaining.
The Gold Rush scored 17 of the next 22 points and took the lead for good,
47-44, on a Daniels 3-pointer at 8:02. A Martin-Julien trey gave
Xavier its first double-digit lead, 64-54, with 1:36 remaining.
Smith had six assists to match his season
high, and
Wesley Pluviose-Philip had a game- and season-high nine rebounds
in 16 minutes.
Rashawn Brown scored 20 points, Black 13 and
Demba Konate 11 for LeMoyne-Owen.
Xavier avenged a 68-64 homecoming loss to the Magicians
from a year ago and beat them for the first time since the 1986-87 season.
It was the third Gold Rush victory this season in as many attempts against
NCAA Division II opponents.
Attendance at the Convocation Center was 1,587, a season-high.
That was a nearly 40 percent increase from the 2014 homecoming crowd of 1,150.
Xavier's next game will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at LSU-Shreveport,
ranked 14th in NAIA Division I.
