Gold Rush will travel to Belhaven in GCAC quarterfinals
February 27, 2010

     NEW ORLEANS — The Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball team will play Belhaven in Jackson, Miss., at 7 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinal game of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
     The Gold Rush, 18-12 and seeded sixth in the tournament, did not know who its quarterfinal opponent would be until the final GCAC game to be completed Saturday — Belhaven's 89-88 overtime home victory over Tougaloo. Belhaven, Tougaloo and William Carey tied for second place in the conference, but a series of tiebreakers awarded the No. 2 seed to Tougaloo, the No. 3 seed to Belhaven and the No. 4 seed to William Carey.
     Had Tougaloo defeated Belhaven, William Carey would have been the third seed and Xavier's opponent Thursday.
     Xavier clinched the No. 6 seed Thursday by beating SUNO 74-70 at The Barn. The Gold Rush finished 9-9 in the GCAC but won its last four regular-season games for the first time since 1993-94.
     Xavier and Belhaven split their two regular-season meetings. The Gold Rush won 75-68 at The Barn on Jan. 28, then Belhaven rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit at home for a 48-45 victory Feb. 11.
     Xavier and Belhaven have not met in the postseason since a 98-76 Gold Rush victory in an NAIA District 30/GCAC quarterfinal game at The Barn on March 1, 1991.
     The GCAC men's tourney will begin Tuesday with first-round games matching the four lowest seeds. The top six seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. The tournament is being played on campus sites for the fifth consecutive year, and highest seeds host in each round.
     If Xavier defeats Belhaven, the Rush will play at 7 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals against Tougaloo, seventh-seeded Spring Hill or 10th-seeded Dillard. Xavier would travel to Tougaloo or play Spring Hill or Dillard at The Barn.
     The championship game will start at 7 p.m. March 9. LSU-Shreveport, the four-time defending GCAC Tournament champion, is the top seed.

Men's basketball
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament

All games start at 7 p.m.
Highest seeds host in each round

First round / Tuesday, March 2
#9 Loyola (13-16) at #8 SUNO (12-14)
#10 Dillard (4-22) at #7 Spring Hill (14-13)

Quarterfinals / Thursday, March 4
Loyola-SUNO winner at #1 LSU-Shreveport (24-5)
Dillard-Spring Hill winner at #2 Tougaloo (21-7)
#6 Xavier (18-12) at #3 Belhaven (22-8)
#5 Mobile (17-10) at #4 William Carey (22-7)

Semifinals / Saturday, March 6
LSU-Shreveport - Loyola-SUNO winner vs. Mobile-William Carey winner
Tougaloo-Dillard-Spring Hill winner vs. Xavier-Belhaven winner

Championship / Tuesday, March 9
Semifinal winners