The Oglethorpe men's basketball team faced a tough road test Tuesday evening in Lookout Mountain, Ga., falling behind by six points to the host Covenant Scots with 6:07 to go. However, the Stormy Petrels came back to win, 76-68, and improve to 5-1 on the young season.
After Oglethorpe went behind by six, they ended the game on a 24-10 run, turning a deficit into an eight-point victory. This came after the Petrels led by as many as 10 in the first half before the Scots came back to cut the Oglethorpe lead to as few as two points late in the period. The Petrels led at halftime, 32-28.
The Petrels shot a stellar 53.3 percent from the field Tuesday evening, including a huge 66.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Combined with their 80 percent free-throw conversion rate, they used that to come back on Covenant, who shot just 45.3 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from three-point range and 40 percent from the line.
The Scots did not make it easy on the Petrels, forcing 20 turnovers from a squad that, coming into the game, averaged just 10.4 turnovers per contest. However, using solid shooting and a good rebounding performance in which they outboarded their opponents 36-28, the Petrels withstood the test and came away with the victory.
Sophomore guard Connor Smith had another outstanding game, scoring 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor, 4-of-6 from three-point range and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. He added three assists and two steals on the evening. Freshman forward Chase Wardlaw led the team with seven rebounds while scoring eight points on a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line. Sophomore guard Romello Bates led the team in assists with five and in steals with three. He scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting.
After the Petrels fell behind, 9-5, in the early-going, they went on the run that would get them their 10-point, first-half lead. They outscored Covenant 17-2 over an eight-minute stretch to build a 22-12 advantage with 5:57 left in the first half. However, the Scots would answer before the halftime break, embarking on a 14-6 run to cut the Oglethorpe lead to 28-26 with 2:07 left in the period. At halftime, Oglethorpe held a four-point lead. Smith was a big part of the Petrels' run in the first period, scoring 11 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting.
In the second, Oglethorpe pushed back ahead by nine points, going on an 11-4 run to build a 45-36 lead with 13 minutes remaining. However, Covenant began their comeback from there, going on a 9-0 run to tie the score, 45-45, with 9:41 left. After a couple of Oglethorpe baskets, Covenant went on an 11-0 run that gave them their six-point lead with 6:31 left. The Petrels still trailed by six with 6:07 left, but then began the run that would win the game, outscoring the Scots 13-0 over the next three minutes and ending the game on a 24-10 run over the final six minutes. Smith contributed 13 ponts in the second half on 3-of-5 shooting while Bates passed out four assists in the second period.
"Credit Covenant for taking us out of our rhythm, but it was good to get out of there with a win," said Oglethorpe Head Coach Philip Ponder. "This game was good for us, I think, as we hadn't yet been involved in a game that was close down the stretch this season. We made some big plays down the stretch and got some big minutes from the bench again. Thanksgiving dinner will be nice with a 5-1 record."
The Stormy Petrels will take a couple days off for Thanksgiving before participating in the annual Thanksgiving Classic over the weekend, hosted by Emory. They'll take on Maryville (Tenn.) on Saturday before returning to Emory to take on LaGrange on Sunday. Both game are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.