The Oglethorpe men's basketball team got off to an excellent start over the game's first five minutes in the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Holiday Classic Friday night against visiting MacMurray and rode that through to a 98-91 victory over the Highlanders to improve to 9-2 on the season.

The Stormy Petrels led 17-8 after five minutes of play and pushed that out to a 16-point advantage with 10:59 left in the first half. That would equal their largest lead of the game, but they were able to hold MacMurray at arm's length for the remainder of the contest, never letting them draw closer than six points. A 12-2 second-half surge, highlighted by six points, three steals and two assists from freshman forward Chase Wardlaw, gave the Petrels their 16-point lead back, 64-48, and put MacMurray behind the eight-ball for the remainder of the contest.

The Petrels shot 54.5 percent from the field over the course of the game, including 39.1 percent from three-point range, while MacMurray shot 46.4 percent from the field. Oglethorpe forced 28 MacMurray turnovers and scored 30 points off of them while maintaining a 21-to-19 assist-to-turnover ratio themselves. The Petrels outscored the Highlanders 50-34 in the paint and 38-15 off the fast break.

Senior guard Alex Davis led the Petrels with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting while passing out five assists. Junior guard Drew Patrick had another excellent outing, scoring 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, inclduing 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and grabbing six boards, passing out two assists, and blocking a pair of shots. Sophomore guard Romello Bates led the team with seven assists and grabbed six rebounds while scoring 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and making a team-high five steals. Senior center Jordan Kinney scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and block two shots.

After the Highlanders built a two-point lead to start the game, Oglethorpe really turned up the pressure and the high-tempo offense, outscoring MacMurray 14-3 over a three-and-a-half minute stretch to take a 17-8 lead. After a couple of MacMurray baskets, the Petrels continued their good stretch of play, going on a 15-8 run over the next four minutes to put MacMurray even farther behind, 32-16, with 10:59 left in the opening stanza. A 7-2 run pushed the Highlanders closer, and they expanded on that by ending the half on an 11-4 run to draw themselves to within single digits, 43-34, at the break. Patrick scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first half, including 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc. Meanwhile, Smith added 12 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting in the opening stanza.

In the second half, the two teams traded baskets for awhile to start the period and MacMurray managed to whittle the Oglethorpe lead down to six points with 15:06 remaining. However, the big 12-2 run highlighted by Wardlaw started there, pushing the Petrels back up to a 16-point lead, 64-48, with 11:54 left. It was an advantage that equaled their largest of the game. MacMurray slowly pushed back, running off a 24-16 stretch which ended with the score 80-72 and 4:48 remaining. The Petrels put the game away from there, though, scoring the next six points and pushing their advantage back up to 14 points, 86-72, with 3:50 remaining on the clock. The Petrels were able to push their lead back out to 16 points, 95-79, with 2:01 left. A 12-3 Highlanders run to end it was inconsequential, and the Petrels emerged with the seven-point victory.

"This was a tough game," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "I thought we played great for about the first 15 minutes of the game, but didn't really play our best after that. Credit goes to MacMurray, though. They kept fighting and wouldn't go away. I know their record isn't great so far, but I feel like they have a lot of wins ahead of them in their conference season. They have size and athleticism, and several guys that can shoot it. There are several areas we need to improve in, but we are happy to come away with a win tonight."

The Petrels will conclude their Holiday Inn Express and Suites Holiday Classic slate with a game against Huntingdon Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The visiting Hawks enter the game having fallen to No. 13 Centre in Friday's Holiday Classic action. After the Holiday Classic, the Petrels will not play again until January 9, when they start the SAA slate in earnest.