March 3, 2005

Rams advance to GCAC Championship Game with win over Xavier University

New Orleans, La. -- The University of Mobile (29-5) advanced to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game by defeating Xavier University 66-60 Wednesday afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Rams will face either Dillard University or LSU-Shreveport in the championship game on Saturday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m.

With the win, both the UM men’s and women’s teams will be playing in their respective championship game this coming Saturday. The women’s championship game will begin on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s championship game will follow at 2:30 p.m. Both games will be played as part of a doubleheader at Fogleman Arena on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After sleepwalking through their second consecutive first half, the Rams exploded in the second half jumping out to as large as a nine point advantage more than halfway through the second half.

With the score tied at 30-all three minutes into the second period, the Rams began to pull away as they put together a 17-8 run over the next nine minutes to take a 47-38 lead with just 8:42 remaining in the contest.

The Gold Rush would get as close as 58-53 on a Jason Leonard lay-up with a 1:48 to play, but would not get any closer as the Rams defeated Xavier for the third time this season.

Terrible shooting plagued both teams in the first half, however, the Rams were able to rebound in the second half and shot 45 percent from the floor in the game while holding the Gold Rush to just 36 percent.

Point guard Gabe Feagin led Mobile with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and Gimel Lewis chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds.

The Rams will play the winner of tonight’s other semi-final match-up between Dillard University and LSU-Shreveport on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

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