Unbeaten Rush summon Simmons for 2nd-half comeback
November 22, 2010

Box score

     NEW ORLEANS — Sophomore forward Anthony Simmons scored 15 points Monday and led a late run which clinched Xavier University of Louisiana's 87-72 men's basketball victory over Wiley and kept the Gold Rush unbeaten.
     Xavier is 6-0 for the third time in four seasons. The Gold Rush have started with six consecutive double-digit victories for the first time since 1974-75.
     Simmons led the Gold Rush with five points during a 17-2 run which covered nearly seven minutes and turned a one-point Xavier lead into an 81-65 advantage with 49 seconds remaining.
     Devin Andrew also scored 15 points — he's the only Xavier player to reach double figures in every game this season — and had 11 in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers. Chris Iles added 13 points and seven assists, and Cordell Hadnot scored a season-high 10 points.
     Adrian Fontenot scored 27 points and Brandon Lott 10, both season bests, for Wiley (2-3). Fontenot scored 19 in the first half to lead the Wildcats to a 37-34 advantage at the break.
     Brandon Williams' 3-pointer with 11:19 remaining gave Wiley a 56-50 lead, but Michael Harvey's 3-pointer at 9:11 gave Xavier the lead for good at 60-58.
     Both teams shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, but Xavier outscored Wiley 26-7 in free throws to offset the Wildcats' 9-of-14 3-point shooting. Lott and Williams both were 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Both teams grabbed 37 rebounds, and Simmons led everyone with seven.
     Wiley scored the first seven points and led 32-25 after Fontenot's final points of the half at 3:23.
     Xavier beat Wiley at The Barn for the fifth straight season, but the previous four meetings at XU were decided by an average of 2.3 points. It was the Gold Rush's 10th consecutive regular-season victory and 10th straight victory at The Barn.
     Xavier's next game will start at 1 p.m. Saturday against Wiley at a neutral site, the Jerabeck Athletic and Activity Center at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. But Wiley has one more game in New Orleans, a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday matchup at SUNO, before addressing the rematch.