The LeMoyne-Owen College men's basketball kicked off their exhibition schedule this past weekend at Bruce-Johnson Hall during their Homecoming game.

The Magicians hosted Xavier (La) University in front of a crowd of about 600 people. The new look Magicians got off to a slow start shooting 7/19 from the field in the first half scoring just 22 points. The team trailed 36-23 at halftime, "we know we have to get off to a better start and not dig ourselves a whole early in the game", Said sophomore guard Tariq Shepherd.

Although the Magicians trailed by double digits in the first half there was no sense of panic. "We've been in these kind of positions before and I was just glad to see us start playing our style of basketball in the second half", said LOC head coach Bonzi Wells. 

With 9:21 seconds remaining in the game the Magicians trailed 55-45 and the Golden Rush still seemed to have complete control of the ball game. Things would quickly change, the Magicians went on a 23-5 run to close the ball game and would go on to win 68-60. 

Junior guard Gjerard Wilson led all scorers with 20 points on 7-13 shooting while sophomore Micah Evans added 13 points to go along with 6 rebounds. "It was a total team effort, guys like CJ Maxwell, Brandon Mason and the rest of the guys off the bench were huge tonight", said Gjerard Wilson.

The Magicians will take the court again November 5th in New Orleans, Louisiana for a rematch with Xavier. The game will be the Magicians final exhibition game of the season. 

Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00pm.