City rival Loyola holds on to defeat Xavier Gold Rush

NEW ORLEANS — City rival Loyola continued its season-long parade to the foul line, making 28-of-40 Saturday to defeat NAIA No. 23 Xavier University of Louisiana 87-78 at The Den.

The loss was the first of the season for the XULA men (4-1), who will visit second-ranked LSU-Alexandria at 7 p.m. Monday.

Terry Smith scored 23 points, Cameron Dumas 20, and Zach Wrightsil 15 for Loyola (3-2), which made 17-of-25 free throws in the second half. Through five games the Wolf Pack has attempted 206 free throws.

Ed Carter scored 20 points and made five 3-pointers for the Gold Rush. Johnell Lane made four 3’s and scored 14 points, William Loyd and Rayshawn Mart scored 12 points apiece, and Donovan Armstrong had 10.

XULA made 9-of-15 free throws, 3-of-6 in the second half.

Loyola took the lead for good on a Dumas 3-pointer at 15:48 of the first half. The Wolf Pack led 51-37 at halftime and and 61-41 on a Sammis Reyes basket with 13:55 remaining. But XULA rallied, getting nine points from Carter and eight from Armstrong and cutting the Wolf Pack lead to 79-75 with 1:13 remaining on Armstrong’s layup after his steal.

Loyola clinched by making 8-of-8 free throws in the final minute.

Loyola outshot XULA 50 to 42.9 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Gold Rush 40-35. Both teams made nine 3-pointers.