TOUGALOO, Miss. — Xavier University of Louisiana reduced a 15-point second-half deficit to two Monday before dropping a 67-64 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball decision to NAIA No. 10 Tougaloo.
     Jeff Dixon scored 16 points, Galen Smith 13 and Rayshawn Mart 11 for the Gold Rush (11-9, 2-3). Smith grabbed nine rebounds, Ahmed Coulibaly eight and Mart six.
     Tonzell Handy had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (17-2, 6-0), who won their 10th in a row, and Datavian Porter, Stanley Williams and Dearius Griffin scored 10 points apiece. Handy's double-double was his 15th this season.
     XULA will play Dillard at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Crosstown Classic at XULA's Convocation Center. Dillard is 4-1 in the GCAC after losing 81-78 at home Monday to Philander Smith on Jaylon Bardley's 3-pointer at the buzzer. Tougaloo is the only men's team with no GCAC losses.
     XULA led 6-1 after three minutes, but Tougaloo took the lead for good in the 11th minute when Kourey Davis made 1-of-2 free throws for a 15-14 advantage. The Bulldogs led 35-27 at halftime and 62-47 after Williams made a pair of free throws.
     XULA rallied — including an Anfernee King 3-pointer and a Mart 3-point play — to make it 65-63 with 2:20 remaining, then missed three free throws and had another negated by a lane violation. The Gold Rush missed three 3-pointers in the final 38 seconds, including Dixon's attempt at the buzzer.
     The Gold Rush are 6-4 this season in games decided by four points or fewer and 2-6 against ranked NAIA opponents.
     Both teams shot 36 percent from the floor. XULA had a 44-36 rebound advantage, but Tougaloo again dominated at the line — making 23-of-34 free throws to the Gold Rush's 11-of-20 — to complete a two-game regular-season sweep of XULA for the first time since the 2008-09 season. Tougaloo won 96-84 at XULA two weeks earlier.