Gold Rush holds on to beat SUNO
January 10, 2008

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS — Shaun Dumas scored 18 points Thursday to match his season high and lead NAIA No. 11 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 76-74 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over city rival SUNO at The Barn.

Dumas scored 15 second-half points for the Gold Rush (13-2 overall, 3-0 GCAC) and scored with 15:12 remaining to put Xavier ahead to stay at 43-41. But after Xavier increased the lead to 65-54 with 4:22 remaining, the Knights rallied and missed a chance to tie on the final possession.

Mark Stewart's free throw with 5.4 seconds remaining gave Xavier a 76-74 lead, but SUNO (3-6, 0-3) — which made four 3-pointers in the final 91 seconds — passed up another 3 and went for the tie. The Knights' Santiago Gomez missed a contested layup as time expired.

Alfred Williams scored 16 points and Stewart 14 for Xavier, which won for the 28th time in 33 games dating to mid-January of 2007. Dumas had seven assists, his most since the third game of the season.

Dominic Perry scored 27 points, 19 in the second half, for SUNO. Kevin Thomas and Lemonte Theus scored 12 apiece, and Clipton Warren had 10.

Xavier committed a season-low 10 turnovers and outshot the Knights 55 to 48 percent from the floor. SUNO had a 36-25 rebound advantage.

Both teams will play GCAC road games at 7 p.m. Saturday. Xavier will visit Tougaloo, and SUNO will travel to Mobile.