The Oglethorpe men's basketball team saw their season come to an end Friday night in Memphis, Tenn., in the quarterfinals of the SAA Tournament, as they couldn't overcome a torrid second-half shooting performance from Birmingham-Southern, falling 94-69 to the Panthers.
The Stormy Petrels seemed to have the upper hand through much of the first half. They led by as many as 11 points in the opening stanza, holidng that advantage at the 6:43 mark after slowly building the lead up over the first 13 minutes. However, a 19-6 Birmingham-Southern run to end the half gave them a 40-38 lead at the break. They were able to extend that lead in the second half through blazing hot shooting, as they converted 12-of-14 three-point attempts over the course of the period and pulled away from the Petrels, outscoring them 54-31 for the second half.
Birmingham-Southern shot 61.7 percent from the field for the game, including an eye-popping 63.6 percent from beyond the three-point arc. The Petrels shot a respectable 43.1 percent from the field and were very good from long distance and from the free-throw line, as they shot 43.1 and 83.3 percent in those two situations, respectively. However, it wasn't enough to keep up with the hot-shooting Panthers. Birmingham-Southern outrebounded Oglethorpe, 32-23, and outscored them 46-26 in the paint and 36-15 off the bench. The Petrels did outscore BSC 11-6 off the fast break.
The Petrels did get some good individual performances, though. Junior guard Drew Patrick scored 15 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting with a pair of blocks, while sophomore guard Romello Bates scored seven points and led the team with seven rebounds and five assists. Senior center Jordan Kinney and freshman guard Chris Lawrence each scored 13 points on the night. Kinney went 6-for-11 from the field while Lawrence shot 5-for-9 overall and 3-for-6 from three-point range.
The Petrels quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the Panthers and, after Birmingham-Southern answered with a couple of baskets, quickly pushed that to a 10-point advantage with a 14-6 run over the next six minutes of play, giving them a 19-9 lead with 12:58 remaining. The Panthers cut it back down to six, but the Petrels quickly pushed their lead out a little bit further with a 12-7 run that gave them their largest lead of the game, 32-21, with 6:43 remaining in the half. However, Birmingham-Southern turned the tables on the Petrels for the rest of the half, embarking on a 19-6 run and eliminating the Petrel lead. The Panthers held a two-point lead themselves, 40-38, at the break.
Birmingham-Southern extended their run to a 22-6 one by hitting a three-pointer to start the second half, giving themselves a 43-38 advantage. Oglethorpe went on a run of their own, though, outscoring the Panthers 18-11 over a five-minute stretch to retake the lead, 55-54. The two teams traded baskets for a little while after that, but Birmingham-Southern started their really hot shooting stretch at that point, making things very difficult on the Petrels. They ended the game on a 34-10 run, allowing them to pull away from Oglethorpe en route to their 25-point win.
"I thought we got out to a great start, but we didn't close the half as well as we would've liked," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We just couldn't get stops in the second half. We scored with them until about the 10-minute mark, but then we hit a wall and they missed one shot the remainder of the game. I've never seen a team shoot like that. It's a tough way to end the season, especially for our seniors. I want to thank Alex [Davis], Jordan [Kinney] and Sean [Overstreet] for four great years, though. They're the winningest senior class this program has had since 1995, so we've had a lot of great memories with those three guys in uniform."
The Petrels finish the season 16-10 overall, 7-7 in SAA play. They'll graduate the aforementioned three seniors from this year's squad: guards Alex Davis and Sean Overstreet, and center Jordan Kinney. The Petrels still have a very solid core of players set to return next year, however. The All-SAA teams will be announced Saturday evening in between the two semifinal games at the SAA Tournament and the Petrels will hope to place several players on those squads.