Box Score
Jackson, MS-Despite big offensive nights from Korey Whiting and Krayleon Winston, the Belhaven men's basketball team fell at home to Xavier University in overtime 59-56 Saturday night in Rugg Arena. Whiting had 20 points and Winston tossed in a career high 18 points in Saturday's loss to the Gold Rush. Belhaven is now 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the Gulf Coast Athletic conference. Xavier evened their GCAC record at 1-1 and now stand at 9-5 overall.

                                                 

Saturday's first half featured good defense and physical play with neither side establishing a strong foothold in the first part of the first half. Belhaven had the lead in the opening minute of action coming on a Phillip Holmes field goal 53 seconds gone by in the first half. Xavier then reeled off an 8-0 run to jump on top 8-2 at the 15:14 mark of the first half. The Blazers then battled back with an 8-1 run of their own to reclaim the advantage at 10-9 with 9:10 to go in the opening frame.

 

With the score tied at 15-15 and 5:10 in the clock, the Gold Rush exploded for a 12-4 run to close out the first half. The Xavier run was capped off by a three point basket by Michael Harvey in the final minute giving Xavier at 27-19 halftime lead. It was the only three point basket that either team would convert in the first 20 minutes. The Gold Rush was 1-7 and Belhaven went 0-10 from long distance heading into the locker room.  

 

Coming out of the break, Belhaven went to work on the offensive end by putting together an 11-0 run to retake the lead at 30-27 four minutes and ten seconds into the second half. The Blazer defense was also formidable in not allowing Xavier to score their first second half points until a three point basket by Michael Harvey tied the score at 30-30 with 15:24 to play. Both teams failed to score for the next three minutes until Xavier came up with a basket by Kelechi Okoroha with 12:27 left giving the Gold Rush a 32-30 lead.

 

Xavier held the lead from that point on until the final seven seconds of regulation when Krayleon Winston made two clutch free throws to send the game into overtime. The Blazers had trailed by four points with 10 seconds left when Korey Whiting drilled two free throws to bring Belhaven within two. Winston then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled by Shaun Dumas setting up the tying free throws.

 

Belhaven took the first advantage in overtime on their only three pointer of the game when Winston dialed up from long distance as the shot clock expired. Xavier then hit two consecutive three's to put them on top 55-52 with 1:35 to play in the extra period. The Blazers cut the deficit to one with 32 seconds left on a field goal by Marion but then Ryan DeRousselle dropped in two free throws to push the Gold Rush lead back to three with 17 seconds remaining.

 

Winston then drove to the basket with three seconds left knocking it on off the window and the Blazers found themselves down by just one. After a foul, DeRousselle was money from the line again, extending the Xavier lead back to three. Belhaven got one more shot away before time expired, but unfortunately the three point attempt by Julien Marion sailed wide and the Gold Rush came away with the 59-56 overtime victory.

 

Korey Whiting recorded his fifth double double of the season thanks his 20 points and 15 rebounds. Whiting is averaging 14.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this season. Krayleon Winston followed with his career high 18 points and Iman Walcott rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 points. Belhaven was 39.6 percent from the field and struggled again from the behind the arc going 1-14. The Blazers were very effective from the free throw line Saturday converting 81 percent of their shots from the stripe.

 

Xavier had three players reach double figures in scoring led by Ryan DeRousselle and Michael Harvey with 11 points a piece. Kelechi Okoroha had 10 points and a team high nine rebounds. The Gold Rush hit 37 percent of their field goals and 36 percent of their three point attempts.

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday night at the University of Mobile in another GCAC conference matchup. The game is set to get underway at 7:30.