Spring Hill rallies to beat Gold Rush on Senior Night
E. Cassiere 02/26/09

NEW ORLEANS -- Jeremy Price scored seven of his 23 points in the final four minutes Thursday to help Spring Hill rally for a 75-67 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Badgers (16-10 overall, 10-7 GCAC) snapped the three-game winning streak of the Gold Rush (19-10, 11-6) and spoiled Xavier's senior night, which included a pregame ceremony for Kelechi Okoroha and Shaun Dumas.

Okoroha scored 18 points to reach 1,002 for his three-year career, and Dumas scored 17 to reach 1,407 in four years. Michael Harvey added 10 points for Xavier.Marcus Coleman scored 19 points -- including a 3-pointer which put Spring Hill ahead to stay at 66-64 with 2:15 remaining -- and Nick Brown added 11.

Spring Hill trailed 12-0 through four minutes, 18-4 through 6½ minutes and 44-34 with 15:45 remaining before rallying to complete its first two-game regular-season sweep of Xavier since 2001-02.

Xavier dropped into a three-way tie for second place in the GCAC with Loyola and LSU-Shreveport with one regular-season game remaining. Tougaloo has clinched the regular-season championship and the first of the GCAC's two automatic bids to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship.

The Rush will play longtime rival Dillard at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Bleu Classic at the University of New Orleans' Lakefront Arena.