NEW ORLEANS, La. - Clark Atlanta basketball saw a second-half rally fall short on the road at Xavier, 85-72.  CAU shot 11-for-23 in the second half but could not dig out of the first-half hole.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Xavier 85, Clark Atlanta 72
Record: Xavier (7-2), Clark Atlanta (0-5)
Date: Nov. 27, 2015 | Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Convocation Center | New Orleans, La.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
After spotting the home team the early 2-0 lead, Lawrance Freeman connected on a 3-pointer off the Derrick Herbert assist with 18:21 remaining in the opening half.
 
Tim Sanders drew CAU within one point, 13-12, with 12:09 left in the half after making the back end of two FT attempts. 
 
Xavier utilized a 21-6 run that concluded with 6:32 left before the intermission to lead the game 34-18.
 
Clark Atlanta trailed the rest of the opening half by as few as 13 points and as many as 17 points.  The halftime score favored Xavier, 45-31.
 
CAU shot just 34.78% in the opening half, 8-for-23, with three made 3-pointers.
 
James Arnold (12) and Freeman (10) carried the workload for CAU in the second half as CAU outscored XU, 41-40.
 
THE NUMBERS:
Arnold scored a team-high 16 points in the game on 4-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-9 from the FT line.  Arnold scored 22 and 24 points in the opening games in Fla., but was held to a combined seven points versus Young Harris and Georgia College.
 
Freeman scored 15 points, including his double-digit second half.  15 points for Freeman represents a new season-high.  Freeman also led the team in assists with five.
 
Tim Sanders made his season-debut and scored 10 points off the bench going 4-for-8 from the floor.  Sanders distributed four assists in 35 minutes.  Sanders pulled in five rebounds for a team-high.
 
Clark Atlanta shot 19-for-46 for the game (41.3%) and added 29-for-40 (72.5%) on FT attempts.
 
UP NEXT:
The Panthers will travel to Georgia College on Dec. 3 for the rematch from the home contest on Nov. 23, CAU was defeated from the home court; 83-74.  Clark Atlanta returns to Epps Gymnasium Dec. 12 to host Georgia Regents at 2:00 p.m.