SU men hold off Xavier

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 12, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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No, it wasn’t a gorgeous display of basketball.

Yes, they’ll live with it for now.

Playing their first exhibition with a host of newcomers, the Southern University men’s basketball team ran out to a large lead early in the second half but needed a handful of defensive stops to hold off Xavier of New Orleans in a 63-56 victory Tuesday night at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

“We started off pretty good and did a lot of good things tonight,” said sophomore forward Barry Honoré, who had nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.

“It was a learning experience. We just made a lot of mistakes. It was the little things that allowed Xavier to get back in the game tonight. The point margin should’ve been a lot larger than it was.”

The Jaguars dressed out 18 players for Tuesday’s game — and besides a new roster, they unveiled some new wrinkles.

SU’s offense often featured three guards circling the perimeter, with two post players on either block.

At times, fourth-year coach Rob Spivery also implored point guard Steffon Wiley to push the ball up the floor in transition.

Southern also used 15 players in the first half, and 12 of them played four or more minutes.

But the Jaguars shortened their bench in the second half — something Spivery said he probably shouldn’t have done.

“I thought we lost some intensity in the second half, and I thought in the second half, we stayed with some guys a little bit too long,” Spivery said. “We probably should’ve gotten some fresh guys in, and that had an effect on how we played.”