The Oglethorpe basketball team team suffered a tough loss on Sunday at Emory's Thanksgiving Classic, dealing with injuries, foul trouble, and a game LaGrange team in an eventual 76-70 defeat.

After falling behind early in the first half, the Stormy Petrels pushed ahead by as many as seven points and led at the half, 35-31. However, the Panthers came back in the second half, bolstered by an off shooting day from the Petrels and 22 Oglethorpe turnovers. In addition, the Petrels had to deal with an injury to starting forward Will Perry, who left two minutes into the game and did not return, and with foul trouble from senior center Jordan Kinney, who fouled out late and was on the bench for large stretches of the second half. Overall, the Petrels shot 39.6 percent from the field, including 23.5 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the free-throw line. They also outrebounded LaGrange, 42-36.

The Petrels did get some solid individual performances on the day, as senior guard Alex Davis poured in 21 points on 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-7 from the free-throw stripe. He also grabbed three steals and passed out a pair of assists. Junior guard Drew Patrick recorded a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Kinney had 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Oglethorpe fell behind in the early-going as LaGrange went on a 10-3 run over the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game. However, the Petrels began a big comeback from that point, a comeback that would turn out to be their big push of the game. They outscored the Panthers 21-7 over an eight-minute stretch to take their largest lead of the game, 26-19, with 6:48 remaining in the half. LaGrange made three straight baskets to tie the score, 26-26, with 5:35 left, but the Petrels fought back with back-to-back hoops and took a four-point lead, 35-31, into the halftime break. Kinney and Davis scored 10 points apiece in the first half on 4-of-5 and 4-of-6 shooting, respectively. 

In the second half, LaGrange quickly pulled even with the Petrels. The two teams traded baskets for awhile and Oglethorpe retained a two-point advantage with 13:01 remaining, but the Panthers fired off seven straight points to take a 54-49 lead. They pushed that lead out to seven points before Oglethorpe came back with a 7-1 run to pull to within a single point, 60-59, with 7:13 left. The Petrels were able to tie the game on a Kinney free throw with 3:37 remaining and took a 65-64 lead on a layup from sophomore guard Romello Bates with 2:53 left. However, LaGrange went on a run down the stretch that would put the game away. An 11-3 spurt gave them their largest lead, 76-68, with 12 seconds left, and clinched victory. Davis had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the second half but Kinney was only able to play nine minutes due to foul trouble.

"We had a tough day," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We didn't shoot it well, but you can offset a sub-par shooting game by taking care of the ball, which we didn't do. We still had a chance to win late, but we just couldn't get any stops down the stretch. The last time we lost, we bounced back and played great, putting together a winning streak. We need to be able to do that again, starting Thursday night."

The Petrels, now 6-2 on the season, will go up against Berry in their SAA opener in that Thursday night game. The game will start at approximately 8 p.m. and will be the team's first home game since the Stormy Petrel Tipoff Classic over two weeks ago. After that, the Petrels will travel to take on Piedmont Saturday afternoon before a break for finals.