The Oglethorpe men's basketball team got off to a 21-point lead early in Sunday afternoon's contest against the Millsaps Majors in Jackson, Mississippi, and never looked back, leading wire to wire in a 77-65 victory. Millsaps pulled to within as few as four points a few times, but they got no closer than that as the short-handed Stormy Petrels played well down the stretch to secure the win. They improved to 5-11 overall and 2-3 in SAA play with the win.
The Petrels both shot the ball and defended well, converting at a 51 percent rate from the field while holding their opponents to 38 percent. Oglethorpe also made 73 percent of their free throws and outscored Millsaps 38-20 in the paint. They did all of this despite missing senior forward Drew Patrick due to injury.
Senior guard Mike Turner led the Petrels with 18 points on 5-of-6 from the field, 3-of-4 from long distance and 5-of-6 from the line. He also passed out 5 assists. Junior guard Justin Edwards had another solid performance, scoring 13 points and recording 5 assists of his own while converting on 3 of 4 free throw attempts. Senior guard George Andino scored 15 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-5 from 3-point range with 3 assists, and sophomore center Tom Inungu added 12 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 8 rebounds.
The Petrels began the game with a 15-3 run at the outset, jumping out to that advantage over the game's opening 4:30. After a couple of Millsaps baskets, the visitors embarked on another run, this one totaling 16-2 over a 4:20 stretch, to build their largest lead of the contest, a 31-10 advantage with 8:43 left. The Majors finished the half on an 18-3 run of their own, though, making it 34-28 at the halftime break.
Millsaps scored the first basket of the second half, making it 34-30 and extending their run to 20-3, but Oglethorpe came back with six consecutive points to make it 40-30 with 17:17 on the clock. Millsaps again cut it to four with an 8-2 mini-run. The score was 45-41 with 13:34 left, but the Petrels again extended their lead, going on an 8-1 spurt of their own to make it 53-42 with 9:15 remaining. The home team cut it back down to a 5-point game with 8:17 left, but Oglethorpe used a 13-3 run to take control of the game. They held a 72-56 lead with 1:17 left, and secured the game from there.
"I was really happy with the way the guys came out and played today," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "We were another man down, but we had quite a few guys come in and step up for us. We put together a complete game today on both ends of the court and it was a total team effort. We've just been preaching patience and attacking each day with hard work and a positive attitude, and that's what we are going to continue to do the rest of the way."
The Petrels will now return home to take on Rhodes in what's sure to be a run-and-gun contest Friday at 8 p.m. from Dorough Field House. After that, they'll host Hendrix Sunday at 2 p.m.