The Oglethorpe men's basketball team fought for 45 minutes Sunday afternoon in Conway, Arkansas, but fell to the homestanding Hendrix Warriors in overtime, 79-72. Junior guard Justin Edwards tied the game on a driving layup with 2.4 seconds to go in regulation, but overtime did not go Oglethorpe's way. Hendrix pulled out to a 5-point lead with a minute to go in the extra period and secured victory from there. The Stormy Petrels dropped to 6-14 overall on the season, 3-6 in SAA play.
The Petrels shot the ball fairly well, converting on 42 percent of their attempts from the field and 40 percent of their long range attempts. However, the Warriors outrebounded Oglethorpe 46-39, including a 15-9 edge on the offensive glass, and outscored the Petrels 60-22 off the bench. Oglethorpe led by as many as nine points in the second half and four points with 2:07 to go, but Hendrix outshot the Petrels down the stretch for the overtime victory.
Oglethorpe enjoyed several very good individual performances. Edwards scored 15 points, including 5-of-6 from the free throw line, while passing out a team-high 6 assists. Junior guard Chris Lawrence also recorded 15 points while hitting 3 of 7 three-point attempts and adding 4 assists. Senior guard George Andino led the Petrels with 18 points off the bench, converting on 3 of 7 three-point attempts and 3 of 3 free throw tries.
The Petrels got off to an excellent start, going on an 11-2 run in the early-going to take an 11-4 lead with 12:35 remaining in the first half. Hendrix responded with a 15-4 run over the next 7:30 to take a 19-15 lead with 5:03 left in the period. Oglethorpe answered with a 16-7 run to end the half, though, and took a 36-31 advantage into the break.
The visitors continued that run going into the second half, extending it to 25-13, and taking a 42-34 lead just over two minutes into the period. The Warriors began their comeback from there, though, going on a 10-4 run to make it 44-41 with 13:47 to go. The Petrels built their lead back up to 54-46 with 8:10 remaining, but Hendrix ran off seven consecutive points to make it 54-53 with 6:53 remaining. Consecutive Oglethorpe baskets made it 58-53 with 4:20 remaining. Down by four with just over two minutes remaining, Hendrix converted back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 62-60 lead with 1:03 left. Sophomore center Tom Inungu converted a game-tying layup with 38 seconds left. Hendrix made a pair of free throws to give the Warriors the lead back with 7.1 seconds left. Oglethorpe quickly broke to the other end of the floor and got a game-tying layup from Edwards with 2.4 seconds remaining and Hendrix did not get their shot off in time on the offensive end.
The teams traded baskets early in the overtime period, with the Petrels taking a 68-67 lead on a Lawrence 3-pointer with 2:51 left. Hendrix answered with a couple 3-pointers of their own, though, and took a 73-68 lead with 1:36 left. The Petrels cut it back to three with a pair of free throws at the 1:25 mark, but they got no closer.
"Today was a heartbreaker," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "We played well enough to win, but credit Hendrix for making a couple of big shots during the last two minutes of regulation. This game was almost the exact opposite of last Sunday. Hendrix led pretty much the whole way in that game, but we made some big plays down the stretch to win. Today, we led pretty much the whole way and they made some big plays down the stretch. Overall, we played well enough to win, we just needed to make one more play. But that's why every single possession is so important."
The Petrels will be back on the road next weekend. They'll travel to Danville, Kentucky, on Friday to take on Centre at 8 p.m., then will continue to Tennessee to face off against Sewanee at 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.