Gold Rush rout Mobile for seventh victory in last eight games

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana allowed one point in nearly 13 first-half minutes and rolled to a 71-46 men’s basketball victory Tuesday against Mobile.

The Gold Rush (11-4, ranked 14th in NAIA Division I) produced season bests for fewest points allowed, field-goal defense (30.2 percent) and free-throw accuracy (90.2 percent, 10-of-11).

“Defense, defense, defense. That’s what got it done for us,” XULA head coach Alfred Williams said. “We got a lot of turnovers (24) and finally starting converting on some of them on offense. Makye (Richard), Rayshawn (Mart) and Will (William Loyd) set the tempo with their tenacity, and Donovan Armstrong gave us a spark defensively in both halves.”

Mart scored 18 points, Loyd 13, Richard 12 and Virgin Davison 11 for XULA, which won for the seventh time in its last eight games. Richard, in his second game with the Gold Rush after sitting out the first semester, also had six rebounds, a block and two steals.

“Makye is still knocking off his rust,” Williams said of the 6-foot-2 junior guard. “He practiced with us the first semester, but he didn’t get a lot of reps because he was on the third unit. But having him on the team makes us better because of his intensity on both ends of the floor, his ability to create and willingness to do what it takes to win. In that regard he’s a lot like Rayshawn and Will.”

Darius Curry’s basket at 14:37 of the first half cut XULA’s lead to 9-8. then the Gold Rush outscored the Rams 18-1 during the next 12:39. The Gold Rush led 34-15 at halftime, then 61-28 when Davison made a 3-pointer with 10:23 remaining.

Reserves Andreas Koutsougeras and Gabriel Cruz scored nine points apiece for the Rams (2-2). Koutsougeras made 3-of-4 3-pointers.

Loyd grabbed five rebounds, and as a result his streak of consecutive double-doubles ended at four games.

The winning margin was XULA’s largest ever against Mobile and followed an 86-68 victory Nov. 2 that was the Gold Rush’s largest-ever victory margin against the Rams at their Pharr Gym. Williams-coached teams are 4-0 against Mobile, and XULA has won 15 of the past 16 meetings.

XULA will break for Christmas, then return to the court Jan. 7 in a 7 p.m. home game against Texas College.

“I’ll worry about our players’ conditioning while they’re gone,” Williams said. “On the other hand, it’ll be good for all of us to step away and recharge our batteries. But when he get back to campus, we’ll need to refocus quickly on the details we need to take care of to be ready for conference play.”