Southern rallies to win exhibition

• By CHARLES SALZER
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Nov 6, 2009

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Southern University and Xavier of New Orleans staged a tale of two halves Thursday night at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Xavier took the first half, but Southern rallied in the second to force overtime. It was there that Southern finally took control to put away the Gold Rush, 77-75, and provide a glimpse of what to expect from the Jaguars this season.

Or not.

“I knew we weren’t going to look very good this game,” said Southern coach Rob Spivery. “We approached it with the intention of trying to institute the things we’ve done in practice.”

That didn’t happen in the first half when Southern fell behind 31-11 with eight minutes to go. The Jaguars went on to trail 40-24 at halftime after hitting on 1-of-11 3-point attempts and 5-of-20 free throws.

Southern chipped away at the Xavier lead in the second half, but still trailed 69-60 with 1:36 left to play. Boosted by three late steals, Southern eventually sent the game into overtime after Earnest Jones converted a three-point play with 29 seconds left.

In overtime, junior point guard Nick Walls had two assists and a driving layup as Southern took only its second lead of the game, 75-72. Xavier tied the game on a free throw and Denzell Erves’ inside basket with 20 seconds left.

Walls worked the ball down court, and fed Julius Ingram for the game-winning reverse lay-in. Joseph Wanto missed a half-court heave at the buzzer.

“In terms of playing an exhibition game, I think this was probably the best scenario we could have had,” Xavier coach Dannton Jackson said. “We were up. I think we got a little comfortable, and then we were hit and eventually went to overtime.”

Xavier’s Joseph Wanto led all scorers with 15 points, Devin Andrew had 11, and Cordell Hadnot and Kevin Miller each had 10. Hadnot also added a game-high 11 rebounds.

Southern was topped by Jones’ 14 points, while Brian White was the only other Jaguar in double figures with 13. A sore spot for Southern was the free-throw line where the Jaguars finished 25-of-48.

There was also the play of Walls and freshman Jameel Grace at the point guard position, which had Spivery exasperated in the first half.

“(They played) very poorly,” Spivery said. “I was disappointed with their decision-making, and how they ran the ball club. They tried to do too much on their own.