Box Score NEW ORLEANS, La.- The Belhaven men's basketball team opened the final week of the regular season with a 78-64 non-conference loss at 14th ranked Xavier University (LA) Tuesday night. The Blazers lost both games in the season series after Xavier escaped Rugg Arena with a 64-55 win in overtime on December 30th.

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"We struggled to get in rhythm tonight," Head Coach John Aiken said. "We were missing a couple of guys who were out with injuries and didn't find good chemistry."

Belhaven (14-13) could never get on track after a 12-2 run by Xavier (21-7) to open the game. The Blazers pulled back to within five points at 19-14 following a triple from junior Jordan Bedford with 10:16 remaining in the first half. However, the Gold Rush countered with a 19-3 scoring burst to establish a commanding 38-17 edge with just over two minutes until halftime. Belhaven was out of striking distance the rest of the way.

Jordan Bedford led all scorers with 21 points and guided the team with six rebounds. He went 7 of 19 from the field and 5 of 13 from three point range en route to his 10th performance of 20 or more points on the season. It was also the third consecutive game in which he scored 20 plus points. Junior Dycus Juste followed Bedford with 10 points while senior Chris Cofield dished out six assists.

As a team, the Blazers connected on 30% of their shots from the field (18-60), hit 29.7% of their triples (11-37), and converted 73.9% of their free throws (17-23). Belhaven had trouble on the glass against Xavier with a 43-24 deficit on the boards.

Xavier had four players score in double figures, led by Lucas Martin-Julien with 16 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field. Morris Wright followed with 15 points and a game high seven rebounds while Anthony Goode and Xavier Rogers chipped in 13 and 12 points respectively. The Gold Rush overcame 23 turnovers with solid shooting from the floor. Xavier cashed in 51.1% percent of their field goals (24-47) and converted 89.7% percent of their free throws (26-29).

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday night when the team hosts Loyola University (NO) in Rugg Arena at 7:30 PM. The team will also honor the seniors prior to the tip-off.

"We have to regroup and compete hard on Thursday night against a hungry Loyola team," Aiken added. "We are in great shape conference wise and have to maximize on our opportunity."