Gold Rush fall to Talladega on last-second free throw

NEW ORLEANS — Da’Jon Streeter made 1-of-2 free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining Monday to lift Talladega to a 66-65 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men’s basketball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Tornadoes (20-6, 8-3) outscored XULA 5-0 in the final two minutes to win their fourth in a row and remain one game behind GCAC leader Tougaloo, a 76-66 winner at Philander Smith.

Streeter, who scored a game-high-tying 15 points, was fouled on a drive to the basket during his team’s final possession. Streeter made his first throw, missed the second, and XULA’s Galen Smith rebounded with nine-tenths of a second remaining. But after three timeouts, the first two by XULA, the Gold Rush were unable to attempt a shot before the buzzer.

Jarin Hilson also scored 15 points for Talladega, which defeated XULA for the second time in nine days, and Dondre Alexander had 14. Streeter and Alexander grabbed seven rebounds apiece, and Hilson had three steals.

Rayshawn Mart scored 13 points and William Loyd 12 for XULA (14-12, 5-5). Smith and Anfernee King scored 10 apiece. King, Mart and Smith were a combined 7-of-8 on 3-pointers; King made all three of his attempts from behind the arc.
Smith also produced four assists, three blocks and two steals.

A 13-2 run in the final five minutes of the first half gave XULA a 34-31 lead at the break. XULA gained its largest advantage, 45-38, after Damani Flanagain’s basket with 15:04 remaining.

XULA outshot Talladega 47.9 to 44.2 percent from the floor but was minus-5 in rebounds (31-26) and minus-3 in turnovers (17-14). Talladega made 16-of-26 free throws to XULA’s 11-of-14.

The Gold Rush are 7-6 this season in games decided by four points are fewer. Three of those close XULA victories occurred prior to January on last-second points from Mart.

XULA will visit city rival Dillard (15-7, 8-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday. Dillard, which shared the GCAC regular-season championship with XULA a year ago, is in second place and a half-game behind Tougaloo. XULA is fifth.