The Oglethorpe men's basketball team defeated Rust, 80-72, in their opening game of the Country Inn and Suites Holiday Classic today at Dorough Field House. The Stormy Petrels become only the second Division III team to reach 10 wins this season (behind Wittenberg).

The first half began as a back-and-forth affair, as the visiting Bearcats jumped out to a 12-7 lead with 13:34 remaining in the period after an 8-0 run. The Petrels answered with a 7-0 run of their own, taking a 14-12 lead with 11:42 left. The two teams again traded baskets for awhile, but the Petrels ended the half on a 13-1 run over the period's final 4:30, taking a 38-28 lead into halftime.

For the first half, freshman guard Connor Smith was on fire, scoring 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. As a team, the Petrels outshot the Bearcats 44-to-38 percent, including 35-to-14 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Rust outscored the Petrels 22-10 in the paint, but Oglethorpe returned the favor with a 9-4 mark off the fast break. 

In the second half, Oglethorpe almost immediately stretched their lead out to their largest of the game, going on a 13-3 run to take a 19-point lead, 51-32, with 16:04 left. However, Rust slowly started to work their way back into the game. They still trailed by 16 points, 63-47, with 10:13 left, but from there, they embarked on an 11-2 run to pull to within seven, 65-58, with 7:12 remaining. That was as close as they would get, however, as the Petrels managed to keep them at arm's length for the remainder of the game. The Bearcats managed to work it back to a seven-point game, 76-69, with 1:53 left, but senior guard Tyler Courson and junior guard Alex Davis hit four stright foul shots to push the lead back out to 11 with 1:01 remaining and put the game away.

For the half, the Petrels were outshot 45-to-37 percent and outscored 44-42. For the period, they were outscored 26-10 in the paint, 13-3 off turnovers, 10-3 on the fast break and 16-8 off the bench. However, they shot 90 percent from the free-throw line, allowing them to put the game away. They also shot 40 percent from 3-point range. Sophomore forward Victor Rohlfs scored 12 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting in the half, while junior center Jordan Kinney scored 10 on 6-of-7 free-throw shooting. Davis was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line in the period.

For the game, Smith finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Rohlfs bagged 17 points on 6-of-11, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Kinney recorded a double-double, scoring 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe to go along with 11 rebounds. Davis finished with 12 points on 8-of-9 free-throw shooting. 

Both teams shot 41 percent from the field, but Oglethorpe shot 37 percent from long distance and a season-best 82 percent at the line, while Rust shot 14 and 62 percent, respectively. 

The Petrels improve to 10-1 on the season with the win, and finish up the Holiday Classic against Stevenson Monday night at 8 p.m. Stevenson defeated LaGrange Sunday evening while scoring over 100 points and, like the Petrels, have only lost a single game on the year (their loss coming to Birmingham-Southern). The two teams received the same number of votes in the current D3hoops.com poll, a number which would put them in a tie for 28th if extrapolated out from the Top 25. 

Rust will play LaGrange Monday afternoon to fill out the 4-team men's event.