Gold Rush wins exhibition at NCAA D-I Alcorn
December 20, 2008

Box score

     LORMAN, Miss. — Seniors Shaun Dumas and Kelechi Okoroha combined for 38 points Saturday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to a 68-49 men's basketball victory over Alcorn State.
     Xavier (7-3), an NAIA Division I member, counted the game as an exhibition, but Alcorn State (2-9) is including the game in its record and statistics.
     Dumas scored 20 points, and Okoroha had 18 points and 12 rebounds to help the Gold Rush earn its first victory against an NCAA Division I opponent since a 76-71 victory at Southern on Nov. 13, 2000.
     Olumide Olafioye scored 12 points and Michael Harvey 10 for Xavier.
     Troy Jackson scored 28 points but was the only Alcorn player with more than seven. Jackson scored 16 of the Braves' 18 first-half points.
     Xavier outscored the Braves 10-0 in the first eight minutes but never trailed despite an Alcorn rally which tied the score at 13 and 15. A pair of Harvey 3-pointers and another by Dumas sparked an 11-0 run in the final five minutes of the half to give Xavier a 32-18 halftime lead.
     In the second half Xavier maintained a double-digit lead for all but 15 seconds and twice led by 22 points.
     Xavier outshot the Braves 50 to 25 percent from the floor — 59 to 13 percent in the first half — and outrebounded them 35-31.
     This was the first meeting between Xavier and Alcorn since the 1978-79 season, and it was Xavier's first victory over the Braves since a two-game sweep in 1938-39.
     This was the second and final exhibition of the season for Xavier, which lost 63-56 at Southern — another NCAA D-I and Southwestern Athletic Conference member — on Nov. 11.
     Xavier's next game will start at 8 p.m. on Dec. 30 at Paul Quinn in the HBCU Classic at Dallas. Alcorn will next play at 1 p.m. on Dec. 28 at DePaul.