The Oglethorpe men's basketball team outscored the visiting Hendrix Warriors 43-27 in the second half Sunday afternoon, including a 33-14 stretch to end the game, to turn the tables on the visitors and grab a 70-63 comeback victory in Dorough Field House. The win improved the Stormy Petrels to 6-12 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
The Petrels outshot the Warriors 45-to-40 percent and made 72 percent of her free throw attempts to 44 percent for Hendrix. They forced 13 Hendrix turnovers while committing just 6 themselves, outscoring the visitors 21-6 off those takeaways. They also outscored Hendrix 28-19 off the bench.
Senior guard Mike Turner led the way for Oglethorpe, scoring 18 points off the bench on 5-of-10 from the field overall, 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Junior guard Justin Edwards added 14 points on 3-of-6 from the field and 8-of-12 from the free throw line, recording 4 assists in the process. Junior guard Chris Lawrence contributed 13 points on 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Hendrix got off to a good start, building a 14-6 advantage over the opening five minutes of the game. The Petrels cut it back to a 3-point game with back-to-back baskets, making it 14-11 with 13:17 until halftime, but Hendrix immediately pushed it back out to a 9-point game. The teams again traded runs, giving the Warriors a 29-19 advantage with 5:29 left in the period. They traded baskets from there until the break and Hendrix took a 36-27 lead into the locker room.
The second half began in similar fashion, with the Warriors keeping the Petrels at arm's length for the first 10 minutes. The home side got no closer than six points during that stretch and still trailed 58-46 with 7:17 left in the game. The Petrels began their game-changing run at that point, though.
Freshman forward Justin Hughes hit a 3-pointer and Lawrence made a layup and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to pull the Petrels to within four, 58-54, with 5:38 remaining. After Hendrix went back up by five, Lawrence converted a pair of free throws to make it 60-57 with 3:57 remaining. The Petrels got a steal from sophomore center Tom Inungu at the other end and Edwards converted on a tough layup to make it 60-59 with 2:50 left. The Petrels got the ball back on the next possession and tied the game on an Edwards free throw, then got another rebound on a missed Hendrix shot and Turner hit the 3-pointer that gave Oglethorpe the lead, 63-60, with 1:08 on the clock. After the teams traded free throws, the Petrels got a defensive stop with 10 seconds remaining and a 67-63 lead, securing the victory.
"That was a big-time comeback, and I'm proud of how the guys kept fighting even though we weren't playing our best," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "We just couldn't make a shot in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole. About midway through the second half, we were still struggling to get much going, but we had stayed within striking distance. At about the 8-minute mark, we talked about continuing to battle for 40 minutes, and we finally started making some shots and had a great finish. Our second half defense, and the fact that we only had 6 turnovers the entire game, are what won us the game. We only led for one minute the entire game, but it was the right minute."
The Petrels will be back on the road next weekend, as they travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to take on Rhodes at 9 p.m. Eastern. After that, that they'll be matched up against this same Hendrix team in Conway, Arkansas, Sunday at 3 p.m.