The Oglethorpe men's basketball team finished the day Saturday just like they'd started it very early that morning, follwing up their Midnight Madness victory over Spalding with a comprehensive 114-75 win over Boyce at Dorough Field House to begin the season 2-0.
After a little bit of a slow start, the Stormy Petrels shot the lights out in the final 30 minutes of the game, finishing with 20 made three-pointers. That mark put them just a single three-point basket shy of tying the school record for made three-pointers in a game. The team shot a whopping 60.6 percent (20-of-33) from beyond the arc and 55.2 percent overall. The Petrels bested the visiting Bulldogs 16-5 in second-chance points and 14-2 on the fast break. They outrebounded their opponents 44-27. The Petrels also got 61 points from their bench on the night.
The Petrels saw seven players reach double figures in points on the night, including four of the five starters. Junior guard Drew Patrick led the team with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. Sophomore center Connor Sigrist, picking up his first career start, led the team with nine rebounds while contributing 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Sophomore guard Romello Bates tabulated nine assists to lead the team, while freshman guard Chris Lawrence added two steals to his 14-point night. Lawrence, freshman guard Chase Wardlaw, and junior guard Joseph Marco all finished with double-digit points off the bench.
The two teams traded baskets for much of the early part of the game, with Boyce taking the lead a couple times and leading by as many as two, 17-15, with 12:17 left in the half. From there, the Petrels went on a big run, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-2 over the next four minutes and taking a 28-19 lead. Boyce fought back with five straight points, pulling as close as 31-27 with 6:50 remaining in the period. They wouldn't get any closer the rest of the game, though, as the Petrels immediately answered with a 19-9 run and led by 12 at the half, 54-42. The first half saw the Petrels get 14 points from sophomore guard Connor Smith, 12 points from sophomore forward Will Perry, and 11 points from Patrick.
The Petrels just blitzed the Bulldogs in the second, never leading by fewer than the 12 points which they led by at the start of the half. Up 66-52 early in the stanza, the home side went on a 23-1 run to grab an 89-53 lead with 9:34 remaining. They crossed the 100-point threshold with 6:39 to go and the game ended with Oglethorpe holding their largest lead of the night, 114-75. Much of the bench performed very well in the second half, led by Marco, who played eight minutes and scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting in that time.
"I thought this was a good game for us and a good learning experience for the whole team," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We didn't come out defensively the way we needed to in the first 10 minutes, but we really picked it up after that. Everyone on the team was able to get valuable minutes and I thought the guys that came in off the bench played great in the second half. Overall, our opening weekend was a big success."
The 2-0 Petrels will now get two days to rest before having to travel across town to take on the rival Emory Eagles, who started the year ranked 15th in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. That game will get started Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Emory. After that, the Petrels will travel all the way to Tacoma, Wash., for the Doug McArthur Classic next weekend, where they'll take on Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound.