The Oglethorpe men's basketball team held off sixth-seeded Millsaps Friday night in the SAA quarterfinals in Danville, Ky., 55-50, despite a late run from the Majors. The third-seeded Stormy Petrels now advance to the semifinals where they'll take on second-seeded Birmingham-Southern.
The Petrels' 20th win of the season marks just the second time they've reached that milestone in the modern era (since transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division III in 1991). The 1993-94 team is the only other team in the program's Division III history to reach the mark. That team went on to win the program's only SCAC championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
The Petrels jumped out to a big lead in the first half, holding a 32-18 advantage at halftime. They then saw Millsaps come back in the second half and almost overtake them, outscoring Oglethorpe 32-23 in the second frame. However, Millsaps could never get over the hump to tie or take the lead.
The Petrels had been cruising the entire evening, leading by as many as 16 points early in the second half. However, things began to get tight when, down 44-33 with 8:30 left, Millsaps hit two straight three-pointers to cut the Oglethorpe lead to just five points, 44-39. The Petrels got a couple of free throws each from senior guard Tyler Courson and freshman guard Connor Smith, combined with a layup from freshman guard Romello Bates, to push the lead back out to seven, 50-43, with 2:25 left, but Millsaps quickly trimmed it back to five with 2:07 left. They then got back-to-back 2-for-2 trips to the free-throw line and suddenly had the Oglethorpe lead down to a single point, 50-49, with 37 seconds remaining.
The Petrels finished strong, though. Courson buried two straight free throws the next trip down to take the lead back up to three with 34 seconds left. Then, after Millsaps went 1-of-2 at the line their next time down, Courson buried two more and gave Oglethorpe a 54-50 lead with 18 seconds remaining.
The Petrels were not out of the woods yet, but Millsaps missed a three-pointer at the other end and junior guard Alex Davis secured the all-important rebound with two seconds left, securing victory and advancement for the Stormy Petrels.
The Petrels built their lead on the back of a 14-0 first-half run which put them up 18-5 with 12:32 remaining in the half. They then expanded that lead to 24-9 with a 6-0 spurt. They led by 14 points at halftime and quickly extended that to 16 points early in the second half. They held a 36-20 advantage with 16:41 remaining when Millsaps started to whittle the lead down.
It could have been Courson's final collegiate game, but his excellent free-throw shooting down the stretch ensured that did not happen. He finished with 15 points, but was a massive 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, including 8-for-8 in the second half. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Smith finished with 11 points of his own on 4-of-6 shooting while also grabbing five rebounds. Sophomore forward Victor Rohlfs grabbed 10 rebounds and recorded two steals while recording six points.
Neither team shot particularly well, as Oglethorpe shot just 35 percent to Millsaps' 37. However, the Petrels shot 75 percent from the free-throw line to the Majors' 67. The Petrels also dominated the Majors on the glass, outrebounding them 41-28. The Petrels outscored the Majors 10-4 off the bench.
The 20-6 Stormy Petrels advance to take on Birmingham-Southern Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Danville. The No. 2 seed Panthers defeated Hendrix in Friday's quarterfinals. Birmingham-Southern swept the regular season series from Oglethorpe, winning both games the two teams played.
The SAA Tournament was devoid of surprises in Round 1. Top-seeded Centre, the tournament hosts, defeated No. 8 seed Berry while fourth-seeded Rhodes knocked off fifth-seeded Sewanee. Centre and Rhodes will play in Saturday's first semifinal at 6 p.m.