Mobile Men Beat #13 Xavier

MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile men's basketball team held on to beat #13 Xavier University by a 65-64 score Saturday evening at Pharr Gym.

The Rams used some hot shooting in the opening frame, hitting 5-of-11 from three-point range, to take a 35-27 lead at the break. Marcus Yeager poured in 12 first-half points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep.

In the second half, the Rams went up by as much as 13, 43-30 with 16:33 left, but the Gold Rush fought back. Xavier went on a 15-5 run over the next 5 minutes to cut the deficit to 3. From there, the back-and-forth action continued as the Rams went back up 54-48 on a Walter Fitzgerald 3-pointer, before Xavier again rallied, this time to tie it at 59-59, on a 3-ball from Olumide Olafioye with 5:11 left.

Minutes later, Kelechi Okoroha drilled a three-pointer for the visitors to put the Rams down by 4 with just over 3 minutes remaining.

The Rams answered with a three-point play from Robert Jones and then a layup from Jones to go up 65-64 with 1:35 left. After the teams traded misses, Okoroha drove to the basket as the clock winded down, and got fouled with only 1 second remaining to go to the line.

Thankfully for the Rams, Okoroha missed both of his free throws and Mobile held on for the victory.

Fitzgerald led Mobile with 21 points, Yeager finished with 12, and Robert Jones added 11 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. The Rams improve to 19-8 overall and 13-3 in conference. Mobile next travels to Spring Hill College Thursday, February 28th at 7:30 pm.