The Oglethorpe men's basketball team outscored the visiting Millsaps Majors 42-20 in the second half Friday evening en route to a 72-52 win at Dorough Field House. The victory improved the Stormy Petrels to 4-1 on the season and bumped them up into sole possession of first place in the league.
The Petrels finished the game converting at a 41.4 percent rate from the field overall, and went 8-for-35 from 3-point range. They held the Majors to 30.8 percent from the floor and 5-of-36 from long distance. However, it was the Majors who were up near 40 percent from the field while the Petrels were shooting just 33 percent early in the second half. The Petrels made just two of their first 20 three-point shots while getting 34 of their first 36 points from only two players: senior guards Dimetri Chambers and Lane Foster.
It was at that point, with the scored tied 36-36 early in the second half, that the Petrels suddenly caught fire. Junior guard Carlos Sone etched his name on the score sheet for the first time by sinking two 3-pointers in a row after the Petrels had missed 14 straight shots from distance. Sone's twin daggers gave Oglethorpe a 44-38 lead at the 13:10 mark. Starting with those two baskets, the Petrels made 6 of 12 shots from distance over the next stretch, allowing themselves to go on a 31-9 run over 10:35. That gave them a 61-43 advantage with 8:05 remaining.
A 9-2 Millsaps run over the next 4:05 cut the Oglethorpe lead down to 63-52 with four minutes remaining, though. Sone answered with a 4-point play at the three-minute mark, suddenly vaulting the Oglethorpe lead back to 15 points, 67-52. That proved to be the back-breaker for the Majors, who never scored again. The home side finished on a 9-0 run en route to the 20-point victory.
The two sides jockeyed back and forth for position in the first half. Oglethorpe led by as many as 5 points early, but Millsaps slowly whittled that advantage down and built as much as a 6-point lead of their own. The Majors led 32-26 with 3:50 remaining in the opening half.
Though the Petrels eventually saw eight players dent the scoreboard, only Chambers, Foster and Sone finished with greater than 4 points. Chambers finished with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Sone added 12 points and five boards. Foster poured in 20 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line, collecting four assists in the process.
"Our defense won us the game," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "We came out slow offensively, and really struggled shooting the ball in the first half before finally getting it going in the second. It's always good to get a win when you're not shooting it particularly well, so I was proud of our defense tonight."
The Petrels and Majors will get right back at it Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., when they complete this two-game set from Dorough Field House.