Tougaloo rallies in second half to defeat Gold Rush
January 9, 2010

Box score

     TOUGALOO, Miss. — Frederick Griffin had 17 points and 13 rebounds Saturday to rally NAIA No. 20 Tougaloo to a 63-50 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Xavier University of Louisiana.
     The Bulldogs (10-1 overall, 2-0 GCAC) outscored the Gold Rush 30-13 in the final 11:04 and made 11-of-12 free throws in the final 2½ minutes to earn their ninth consecutive victory.
     Walter Howard added 15 points for Tougaloo, and Keith Fisher scored nine of his 14 in the final 1:45.
     Cordell Hadnot scored 16 points, 12 in the second half, for Xavier (9-5, 0-2) and Ryan DeRousselle had a season-high 14. But Devin Andrew, the Gold Rush's leading scorer, had a season-low two points.
     Hadnot made two free throws with 11:25 remaining to give Xavier its biggest lead, 37-33, but Howard scored seven points during a 12-2 burst which put Tougaloo ahead to stay. Griffin's 3-pointer from the top of the key at 9:42 made it 40-37.
     The Rush missed 8-of-14 free throws in the final 10 minutes.
     Xavier trailed 11-0 after four minutes, but DeRousselle and Hadnot combined for 11 points to give the Rush a 16-13 lead at 8:45 of the first half. Tougaloo responded with an 8-0 run and led 23-22 at halftime.
     Xavier shot 41.5 percent from the floor and limited Tougaloo to 35.3 percent. The Bulldogs, the defending GCAC regular-season champion, entered the game averaging nearly 97 points.
     The loss was Xavier's third in a row and second in three days against a ranked NAIA opponent. The Rush lost 79-77 Thursday at No. 6 LSU-Shreveport in the GCAC opener.
     Both teams will play GCAC opponents at home at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Xavier will play Spring Hill, and Tougaloo will play Mobile.