Box Score
New Orleans, LA-After taking the lead with 2.9 seconds left on a basket by Nathaniel Roche', the Belhaven men's basketball looked on as Xavier's Ryan DeRousselle banked in a three point bucket as the buzzer sounded to defeat the Blazers 54-52 in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference action Monday night. Belhaven falls to 13-10 overall and 5-7 in the GCAC. The Gold Rush improve to 16-8 overall and own a conference record of 8-4 which places them in a three way tie for second place with Loyola and LSU-Shreveport in the league standings.

 

Early on it looked like Xavier might cruise to and easy victory by opening the game with a 12-2 run. Belhaven didn't score their first basket until Iman Walcott found the bottom of the net with 13:18 remaining in the first half. With the score at 12-2, the Blazers then exploded on a 15-0 run to grab a 17-12 lead. The run was capped off by Hunter Jeffrey who bagged a three pointer of an assist from Chase Hudson with 8:09 to play before halftime.

 

Xavier called timeout and quickly regrouped by getting a three pointer from Shaun Dumas to end their scoring draught and cut the Blazer lead to 17-15 with 7:38 remaining in the half. Roche' extended the Belhaven lead to 21-16 at the 3:23 mark of the opening half only to see the Gold Rush come back with a 5-0 run to knot the score at 21-21 on a bucket by Dumas with 1:38 to go before halftime. Belhaven broke the tie right before the first half buzzer sounded on a basket by Jeffrey with five seconds on the clock to take a 23-21 into the locker room.

 

Coming out of the break, Xavier regained the lead at 24-23 on another triple by Dumas with just under 19 minutes to go in the game. The Blazers then jumped ahead of Xavier again, thanks to a Roche' field goal that made the score 25-24 with 17:57 showing on the second half clock. This would be the pattern for the remainder of the game as each team exchanged basket for basket down the stretch.

 

With the score tied at 35-35 with just over 10 minutes go, it would prove to be the first of eight different ties during the final 11 minutes of the game. During that same time frame, the lead changed hands on seven different occasions. One of those lead changes occurred when Roche' came up with an offensive rebound following a missed shot by Phillip Holmes. Roche' was then fouled which put him on the free throw line with a chance to take the lead. Roche' was able to convert on both of his attempts and the Blazers went back on top 50-49 with 51 seconds left.

 

Xavier's Kelechi Okoroha then had his shot blocked by Iman Walcott but came up with the rebound and connected on a basket with just 17 seconds to play. Following a timeout by the Gold Rush, the Blazers set up their offense and got the ball to Roche', who drove the lane and scored off the glass to give Belhaven the lead at 52-51 with 2.9 seconds on the clock. That set the stage for DeRousselle's dramatic shot that gave Xavier the 54-52 win.

 

Roche' finished the contest with a game high 19 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Blazers. Iman Walcott and Hunter Jeffrey each added eight points for the Blazers. Belhaven outrebounded Xavier 31-22, but committed 22 turnovers which led to 24 Gold Rush points. The Blazers made good on 45 percent of their shots from the field and had a season best 93.3 percent shooting night from the free throw line.

 

Shaun Dumas led Xavier with 15 points and five rebounds while Kelechi Okoroha dropped in 14 points and five rebounds on the night.