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        ALEXANDRIA, La. — Xavier University of Louisiana scored 14 of the first 17 points Saturday and rolled to a 72-64 men's basketball victory against Texas A&M-Texarkana in the semifinals of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament.
        The Gold Rush (21-8), seeded third, will play top-seeded and NAIA No. 17 LSU-Shreveport (24-6) for the championship at 2 p.m. CST Sunday at Rapides Parish Coliseum. The Pilots won 96-92 in overtime against fifth-seeded Louisiana Christian in the second semifinal. The Gold Rush were 0-2 in the regular season against LSUS.
        The XULA-LSUS winner will earn an automatic bid to NAIA nationals, a 64-team event which includes first and second rounds March 7-8.
        It was a wire-to-wire victory for XULA. The Eagles, 22-8 and seeded second, trailed 34-24 at halftime and got no closer than 47-44 in the 29th minute.
        Lance Williams scored 24 points and started and closed XULA's opening run with 3-pointers. Williams finished 5-of-9 on 3s and 7-of-7 from the line. He grabbed six rebounds and had three assists.
        Jeremy Lindsey and Xavier Reaves scored 10 points apiece for the Gold Rush, and Reaves had four steals and grabbed 13 rebounds in his eighth double-double of the season.
        XULA made 21-of-28 free throws — Lindsey was 4-of-5, and Brian White was 5-of-6 — to the Eagles' 22-of-35.
        XULA won eight of its last nine games and 11 of its last 13.
        Kobe Powell scored 18 points, Tray Spencer 14 and Connor Ouellette 11 for the Eagles (22-8).
        The Gold Rush reached the championship game of a league tournament for the third time in four seasons. XULA won titles in 2020 and 2021 in its final two seasons in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.