The Oglethorpe men's basketball team faced a difficult game in which seemingly little went right for them Saturday night at Dorough Field House, but they were able to persevere and pick up their 10th win of the season, 94-86 in overtime, to conclude their Holiday Inn Express and Suites Holiday Classic slate with a 2-0 record.
The Stormy Petrels ran away from the visiting Hawks in overtime, outscoring them 15-7 over the course of the extra period, but nothing came easy for the Petrels in regulation. They could not get shots to fall in the first half, shooting at a 30-percent rate for the period, including 18 percent from beyond the arc. As a result, Huntingdon built a 40-35 halftime lead. The Petrels started to get some shots to fall in the second, shooting 57 percent from the field and grabbing a lead, but Huntingdon continued to hang tough. Oglethorpe also found themselves in foul trouble for much of the game, with sophomore guard Romello Bates and freshman forward Chase Wardlaw eventually fouling out and junior guard Drew Patrick playing with four fouls for a large chunk of the second half and all of overtime.
The Petrels worked their way to a five-point advantage, 79-74, with 36 seconds left, but a Huntingdon three-point play and an Oglethorpe turnover led to a three-shot foul that could've put the Hawks ahead with 19 seconds remaining. Huntingdon missed one of the three, though, tying the game at 79-apiece. Oglethorpe was unable to win the game at the other end, but the Petrels put the game away in overtime, advancing to 10-2 on the season.
For the game, the Petrels shot 43 percent from the field, outshooting Huntingdon by two percentage points depite the poor first half. The Hawks shot 31 percent from beyond the arc while the Petrels converted at a 20-percent rate. The Petrels had an impressive evening on the glass, outrebounding Huntingdon 49-43, including 19-15 on the offensive boards. The Petrels also forced 14 turnovers while committing just eight themselves. They outscored Huntingdon 50-34 in the paint and 15-8 off turnovers.
Senior guard Alex Davis had another excellent game and was named Holiday Classic Co-MVP to cap it off (sharing the award with Centre's Josh Karsner). On Saturday, he scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, passed out five assists, and made two steals. Patrick was named to the All-Classic Team for his efforts, putting together a fine weekend of work. On Saturday, he scored 19 points on 7-of-8 free-throw shooting, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out three assists, and made a pair of steals. Freshman Chris Lawrence probably had the best game of his career so far, scoring a career-high 16 points off the bench on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-7 from three-point range while grabbing seven rebounds and leading the team with three steals.
After falling behind 6-0, the Petrels went on their biggest run of the game in the first half, embarking on a 17-2 spurt over a five-minute stretch to take their largest lead of the game, 17-8, with 12:59 remaining in the opening stanza. The Petrels went cold at that point, though, and the Hawks got back into the game with an 18-5 run over the next 6:20, taking a 26-22 lead with 5:42 left in the half. The two teams traded mini-runs for the remainder of the half and the Hawks led by five at the break.
Huntingdon took an eight-point lead, their largest of the game, with 18:40 left, but the Petrels answered with a 10-3 spurt that got themselves right back into the thick of things, down a point with 15:21 left. The two teams traded baskets for much of the rest of regulation, setting up the end of the second half and the overtime period.
The Petrels dominated in overtime, putting the game away with an 11-4 run and shooting 50 percent over the course of the extra period while making six free throws. In addition, they held Huntingdon to just 27 percent shooting from the field during overtime.
"This was a game where it seemed like everything was going wrong, but the guys showed a tremendous amount of grit in coming from behind," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We won that game on sheer determination. I hope we don't have a lot of these type of games, but having a couple of these can be good for a team. We came from behind against Covenant also, so those two games hopefully give us some confidence if we are in that situation again."
"We have different guys step up every night and tonight was no exception," Ponder continued. "We got a couple of great performances off the bench from Chris [Lawrence] and Chase [Wardlaw] tonight, and we don't win this game without them."
The 10-2 Petrels will now be off for the remainder of the holiday season. They'll return to action Friday, Jan. 9, as the SAA schedule will start in earnest with a visit from Rhodes at 8 p.m. Hendrix will then come into town Sunday, Jan. 11.