Tougaloo's late free throws stop Gold Rush
January 15, 2009

Box score

     NEW ORLEANS — Tougaloo's Jermaine Hodges scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half Thursday and helped the Bulldogs hold on for a 71-68 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Xavier University of Louisiana.
     Tougaloo (10-5 overall, 3-0 GCAC) won its fourth in a row and remained tied for the conference lead with LSU-Shreveport and Mobile. It was the first home loss of the season for Xavier (9-6, 1-2), which had won nine straight at The Barn dating to this past season.
     Jeremy Cable scored 18 points and Octavius Thompson 12 for Tougaloo, which took the lead for good on Jeremy Cable's basket with 7:24 remaining.
     Shaun Dumas scored 21 of his season-high 28 points in the second half for Xavier, and Olumide Olafioye had 14.
     Tougaloo outscored Xavier 27-17 in free throws and iced the victory — its second in a row at The Barn and fourth in the past five meetings overall — by making 7-of-8 from the line in the final 49 seconds.
     Dumas missed from 3-point range with two seconds remaining. He made four of the Gold Rush's season-best nine 3-pointers.