The Oglethorpe men's basketball team held a 4-point lead over the LaGrange Panthers with 4:27 to go Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Oglethorpe Thanksgiving Classic at Dorough Field House. The visitors turned the tables on the Stormy Petrels, though, going on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes, allowing them to pull away for an 81-76 victory. The loss dropped the Petrels to 2-4 on the young season.

The Petrels got an outstanding performance from senior forward Drew Patrick, who put up a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds. He also converted 5 of his 6 free throw opportunities. Senior guard Connor Smith scored 16 points on 6 of 10 from the field overall and 4 of 8 from the 3-point line, grabbing 9 rebounds in the process. Junior guard Justin Edwards scored 15 points on 4 of 7 from the field, passing out 4 assists in the process, while senior guards Mike Turner and George Andino finished with 11 points each on 4 of 7 from the field. 

Oglethorpe outshot their opponent 44-to-43 percent, but LaGrange converted on 40 percent of their 3-point tries to Oglethorpe's 31 percent. The Panthers also outscored the Petrels 16-7 in second chance points and 26-12 off turnovers.

The two teams went back and forth for the first part of the game, but the Panthers built a 14-5 edge with 13:41 remaining in the opening half of play, using a 10-0 run to do so. The Petrels responded with a 7-2 stretch of their own, making it 16-12 with 11:42 left in the period. The two teams traded baskets for a brief time after that, but the Petrels continued their run, outscoring LaGrange 16-6 over a 4:10 stretch to take a 21-20 lead. The Panthers pushed back into the lead, 26-21. The Petrels tied it up 26-26 with 4:44 remaining, but the visitors used an 11-3 run toward the end of the half to take a 37-29 advantage with 2:51 remaining. The Petrels cut it back to a 3-point game with five consecutive points before the break, but LaGrange led 39-36 at the break.

The second half began with the two teams trading baskets. The Petrels briefly took the lead a couple of times, including 44-43 with 16:21 remaining. LaGrange used an 8-0 run to take a 51-44 lead with 14:58 to go. The Petrels began to come back from that point and the game swung back and forth, as both teams traded baskets and stops over the next several minutes. The Petrels led by as many as four points a couple times and built their 71-67 lead with 4:27 remaining before the Panthers started their comeback.

"After a bit of a slow start over the first five minutes, I really liked our energy for the rest of the game," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "Even though we didn't shoot the ball well today, I thought we really got after it and battled back from a deficit to take a two-possession lead late in the game. We just have to cut down on some mental mistakes and value every possession. We've made some costly mental errors the last couple of games and we have to learn from them and get better. We are so close, and I think this team is going to turn the corner. Hopefully, that'll happen sooner rather than later. LaGrange is a tough team and would be good enough to win our league. Our last three opponents would all measure up to anyone in our league, so I hope that playing these tough teams will help get us ready for conference play."

The Petrels will travel to Mount Berry, Georgia, to take on Berry at 8 p.m. Saturday in their SAA opener. After that, they'll head to Lookout Mountain, Georgia, to take on Covenant at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6.