The 24th-ranked Oglethorpe men's basketball team got off to a blazing start against in-state SAA opponent Berry Saturday night in Dorough Field House and hung on from there to secure a 76-61 victory, extending the best start in modern program history to 14-1.
The Stormy Petrels came out of the gates positively ablaze, nearly burying the visiting Vikings before they had a chance to react. The Petrels started the game on a 32-12 run over the first 10:30 of play. The Petrels had their largest lead of the game at that point. From there, the home side generally kept the Vikings at arm's length the rest of the game.
For the remainder of the first half, the Vikings got as close as 14 with an 8-2 run immediately following the Petrel run, but Oglethorpe pushed the lead back out to 17 very quickly. Berry ended the half on a bit of a spurt to cut the Oglethorpe lead to 40-26 at the break.
At the break, the Petrels were outscoring Berry 11-4 off the bench, 7-0 on the fast break and 12-2 off turnovers. They shot 48 percent for the period, and 42 percent from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Berry shot just 26 percent for the stanza. Senior guard Tyler Courson scored 12 points on 5-of-6 free-throw shooting in the period.
The game featured more of the same in the second half. Berry worked their way back into the game early in the period, going on an 8-2 run to cut the Petrel lead to 11, 45-34, with 16:32 remaining. However, Oglethorpe quickly pushed the lead back out to 19 points with an 8-0 run of their own and led 53-34 with 13:32 left.
The Vikings would not go away, however. The Petrels went scoreless over a 4-minute stretch and the visitors took advantage, going on a 10-0 run. At the end of the drought, Oglethorpe led by just nine, 53-44, with 9:57 remaining.
They would get no closer, though. The two teams traded baskets for the next five minutes and the Petrels led by 10 with 4:40 left. But the Vikings went ice cold from 3-point range for the rest of the game and the Petrels took advantage, building their lead back up to 18 points, 74-56, with 1:52 left and putting the game away.
Berry outrebounded Oglethorpe 17-6 on the offensive glass in the second half, leading to a 17-8 differential in second-chance points, but they shot just 30 percent for the period compared to Oglethorpe's 52 percent.
For the game, the Petrels shot 50 percent from the field to Berry's 28 percent, which pretty much tells the story. Oglethorpe shot 32 percent from 3-point range and 68 percent from the free-throw line. The Petrels had to endure a 23-10 loss on the offensive glass and a 25-10 deficit in second-chance points, but made up for it by beating Berry on the defensive glass 33-20. They also had 11 assists to their opponents' six, and outscored them 21-9 off the bench, 16-4 on the fast break and 18-9 off turnovers.
Courson led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 5-of-6 free-throw shooting. He also recorded a pair of steals. Meanwhile, sophomore forward Victor Rohlfs turned in another steady performance, scoring 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 2-of-4 three-point shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds.
The Oglethorpe athletics program honored the 1993-94 SCAC championship team at halftime of the game, the only Oglethorpe men's basketball team in the SCAC era to win a conference championship.
The 14-1 Petrels have that goal in mind, and they stay unbeaten in SAA play with the win, improving to 4-0. The schedule gets tougher next weekend, as the Petrels welcome in fellow 4-0 squad Centre to Dorough Field House on Friday at 8 p.m. The winner of that game will take sole possession of first place in the conference. There will then be a quick turnaround afterward, as the Petrels welcome Sewanee in on Saturday at 8 p.m.