The Oglethorpe men's basketball team bounced back nicely from Friday night's loss with an excellent all-around performance in a 77-53 defeat of Hendrix at Dorough Field House Sunday afternoon.

The Stormy Petrels got off to an excellent start, never trailing as they built a sizeable early advantage and leading by as many as 18 points in the first half en route to a 44-26 halftime edge. The Petrels built that advantage even further in the second period as they slowly built their lead over the course of the half, never allowing Hendrix to get closer than 11 points. The Petrels had their largest lead of the game with 2:16 remaining, a 25-point spread.

Oglethorpe shot 52.8 percent from the field over the course of the contest, outpacing the Warriors' 36.5 percent. In addition, the home team had an excellent shooting day, converting on 54.5 percent of their three-point attempts. By way of comparison, Hendrix shot just 14.3 percent from three-point range. The Petrels also made 75 percent of their free-throw attempts for the game. Hendrix outrebounded the Petrels, 36-31, but Oglethorpe used the excellent shooting peformance, an 11-6 advantage in fast-break points, and a 30-24 edge off the bench to pull away from the Warriors. In addition, the Petrels recorded 12 assists to Hendrix's seven.

Sophomore guard Connor Smith led the team with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. He also passed out a pair of assists. Freshman Chase Wardlaw came up big with 15 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting. He also converted 2-of-3 three-point attempts and 5-of-6 free-throw attempts while grabbing seven boards. Sophomore guard Romello Bates led the team with four assists, while senior guard Alex Davis recorded a pair of blocks to go with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Freshman guard Chris Lawrence led the squad with two steals on the afternoon.

After a brief early period of trading baskets, the Petrels led 11-7 with 12:28 remaining in the opening half. From there, Oglethorpe went on the run that would largely prove to separate the two sides for the remainder of the game. Over the next 10 minutes, they would outscore Hendrix 27-13 and build a 38-20 lead with 2:55 remaining in the period. After three straight Hendrix baskets cut the lead back to 12, Oglethorpe finished the half on a 6-0 stretch to push the advantage back out to 18 points at halftime, 44-26. Wardlaw proved to be the big first-half performer for the Petrels, scoring all 15 of his points and grabbing all but one of his seven rebounds in the opening stanza.

In the second, the Warriors quickly went on a 9-2 run to pull to within 11 points, 46-35, with 14:05 remaining. However, that was as close as they would get for the remainder of the proceedings. The Petrels answered with a 22-9 run, pushing their lead all the way out to 24 points with 6:46 remaining and all but sealing the game. After back-to-back Hendrix baskets, Oglethorpe answered again with five straight points to take their largest lead of the game, 73-48, with 2:16 remaining. The Petrels cruised from there, securing the 24-point victory.

"I was really pleased with how we came out today in terms of our intensity," said Oglethorpe Head Coach Philip Ponder. "I didn't think our intensity was quite at the level it needed to be on Friday night, but the guys answered that call today from the opening tip. Our defense was great all game long and, aside from a couple brief stretches, our offense was really clicking, too. It was a really good bounce-back win."

With the victory, the Petrels improve to 11-3 on the season, 2-1 in SAA play. They'll now embark on a five-game road trip over the next three weekends. That stretch will get started Saturday in Mount Berry, Ga., where the Petrels will take on Berry at 3 p.m. Trips to Millsaps, Birmingham-Southern, Sewanee and Centre will follow that.