XU men hold on to beat SUNO, win fourth straight
February 25, 2010

Box score

     NEW ORLEANS — Michael Harvey scored 14 points Thursday to lead Xavier University of Louisiana to a 74-70 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over SUNO at The Barn.
     The Gold Rush (18-12 overall, 9-9 GCAC) closed the regular season with four straight victories for the first time since 1993-94. Xavier clinched the No. 6 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament and will play on the road at 7 p.m. next Thursday against the No. 3 seed, which has yet to be determined.
     Devin Andrew and DeRonn Scott added 13 points apiece for Xavier. Scott's basket at 1:07 of the first half gave Xavier its largest lead, 42-26. The Rush led 42-31 at halftime.
     SUNO (11-14, 6-11), with Ronald Palmer scoring 11 second-half points and Lionel Green 10, came within a point of Xavier three times in the second half — the last on Palmer's basket at 6:59 — but never reclaimed the lead it held for most of the first 10 minutes.
     Harvey was 3-of-4 from 3-point range and is 7-of-8 from behind the arc in the last two games.
     All five SUNO starters scored in double figures. Green had 19. Palmer, Brent Leduff and Ricardo Porter had 13 apiece, and Andre Davis scored 12. But Xavier's bench outscored SUNO's 41-0.
     Xavier, shooting better than 50 percent from the floor the fourth time in five games, finished at 51.1 percent. The Knights shot 46.3. The Gold Rush outrebounded the Knights 32-25 and outscored them 21-13 in free throws.
     Xavier has beaten SUNO 11 consecutive times and is 4-0 against the Knights since Dale Valdery became SUNO's coach. Valdery coached the Gold Rush from 1990-2002.
     While Xavier awaits its tournament opponent, SUNO must travel to GCAC regular-season champion LSU-Shreveport in a regular-season finale at 7 p.m. Saturday. LSUS is No. 8 in NAIA Division I.