The Oglethorpe men's basketball team took on the high-scoring Rhodes Lynx Friday night in Memphis, Tennessee, for the second time in as many weeks. The visitors came back from being down by as many as 17 points to cut the deficit to just three with 5:44 to go. However, similar to a week ago, Rhodes used their extreme uptempo style to take 20 more shots than the Stormy Petrels over the course of the game, making three more shots than Oglethorpe despite being outshot by 11 percentage points. As a result, the home team held on for a 107-101 victory, dropping the Petrels to 6-13 on the season overall and 3-5 in SAA play.
The Petrels shot the ball very well, converting on 59 percent of their field goal attempts compared with 48 percent for the Lynx. However, the Petrels took 59 total shots and made 35, while Rhodes took 79 total shots and made 38. In addition, the Petrels shot just 20 percent from the 3-point line while Rhodes converted at a 32 percent clip from deep. Oglethorpe sank 72 percent of their free throws to 63 percent for Rhodes, outscoring them 62-48 in the paint and 16-4 on the fast break. However, the Lynx forced 26 Oglethorpe turnovers on the night.
Sophomore center Tom Inungu had perhaps the best game of his young career, earning a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds. He converted on 10 of 11 field goal attempts for the game. Senior forward Drew Patrick finished with a season-high 27 points on 7-of-11 from the field, 12-of-15 from the free throw line, and 5 assists. Junior guard Justin Edwards led all players with 7 assists while finishing with 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
The Petrels did not get off to a good start at all, as Rhodes jumped out to their largest lead on the first run of the game. They outscored Oglethorpe 19-2 over the opening five minutes of the contest to build a 17-point advantage at that point. The Petrels cut it to 21-9 with a 7-2 mini-run and slowly began to work their way back into the game. After the home team pushed their advantage back out to 16 points with 10:07 left in the period, the Petrels used a 20-9 run to put themselves all the way back to within five points, 36-31, with 5:47 to go in the first half. It was 39-34 with 4:57 until the break, but Rhodes ran off 10 consecutive points to take a 49-34 lead with 3:37 on the clock. The Petrels continued to fight back for the remainder of the half, though, and entered the locker room down by 10 points, 54-44.
Oglethorpe cut it to 54-48 with consecutive baskets to start the second half and again got as close as five points, 57-52, two minutes into the half. The Petrels extended it to a 12-6 stretch to open the half and pulled as close as four points, 60-56, with 16:56 remaining in the game. Rhodes quickly pushed it back out to a 10-point game, though, and proceeded to keep the visitors at arm's length as the two teams traded baskets for much of the middle portion of the half. The Lynx managed to push their advantage back out to 15 points, 82-67, with 11:48 to go. The Petrels came back, though, using a 19-7 run over a 5-minute stretch to get as close as three points, 93-90, with 5:44 still left. Five straight points pushed the Rhodes lead back up to 98-90, though. The Petrels continued to fight back, but were never quite able to get over the hump as Rhodes held on for the 107-101 win.
"I just wish we could have the first five minutes back," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "After that, I thought we handled their press well. The guys never stopped fighting. We cut it from a 17-point deficit to a 3-point one with just a few minutes left, but we just couldn't get over the hump. We've had good rebound wins the past two weekends on Sunday, so I'm hoping we can do that again this weekend."
The Petrels will go for that rebound victory Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern against Hendrix in Conway, Arkansas. After that, they'll go back on the road next weekend to take on Centre on Friday night from Danville, Kentucky, and Sewanee on Sunday afternoon from Tennessee.