The Oglethorpe men's basketball team clinched the No. 2 seed in the SAA tournament Sunday with a 78-72 win over the visiting Rhodes Lynx at Dorough Field House. The victory improved the Stormy Petrels to 8-3 on the season overall and 7-3 in SAA play. It also allowed senior guard Lane Foster to finish his career at Dorough Field House on a high note, as he was honored during Senior Day festivities before the game.

Foster scored 21 points on the day and converted on a perfect 7 of 7 free throw attempts. He also grabbed six rebounds and passed out three assists. It was junior guard Ryan Jenei who led the Petrels in scoring on the day, though. He poured in a career-high 27 points on 7-of-12 from 3-point range and 10-of-16 overall while grabbing five rebounds. 

The Petrels used a big scoring run to take command of the game in the first half, outscoring Rhodes 15-5 over a 5:20 span to push from an 18-16 edge out to a 33-21 advantage with 4:10 left in the first half. The Lynx rolled off 6 straight points to cut the Oglethorpe lead in half, 34-28, at the break.

Rhodes made a 3-pointer right out of the gate in the second half to cut the Petrel lead down to 34-31, but a 14-4 Oglethorpe run gave the home side their largest lead of the game, 50-37, with 14 minutes on the clock. Rhodes again answered, though, going on a 14-3 run over the next 3:35 to slice the Petrel lead all the way down to 2 points, 53-51, with 9:17 left. The teams continued trading runs, with the Petrels taking their lead back out to arm's length twice more only to see Rhodes cut into the deficit again. They led 60-51 with 8:14 left only for the Lynx to cut it back to a 5-point game at the 7:19 mark. Then they pushed their advantage to 71-60 with 3:52 to go only for Rhodes to punch it back down to a 75-72 game with 1:06 remaining. The Petrels got a big free throw from sophomore guard Jack Murrah to put them up by two possessions, 76-72, with 28 seconds remaining. The visitors then missed a shot on the offensive end and Foster grabbed the game-clinching rebound with seven seconds on the clock.

"This was another hard-earned win," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "Once again, we had different guys step up and give us good contributions, both big and small. We could never quite shake them, but every time they got close, we had somebody make a big play or make a big shot. It's nice to get some momentum heading into the conference tournament."

The Petrels will stay in-state for the SAA tournament, taking on third-seeded Birmingham-Southern in the semifinal round from Mount Berry Friday at a time to be announced.