The Oglethorpe men's basketball team broke their six-game losing streak in style Sunday evening at Dorough Field House, as they defeated Mount St. Vincent by 30 points in the two teams' opening game of the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Tournament. The Stormy Petrels jumped on the visiting Dolphins early, pushing to a 15-point lead in the first half before really extending the margin out after halftime, outscoring Mount St. Vincent 44-27 over the final 20 minutes. The victory improved the Petrels to 2-6 on the season.

The Petrels led by as many as 36 points late in the game and outscored the Dolphins 31-2 on the fast break. They also scored 23 points off of 15 Mount St. Vincent turnovers. They got the best performance of the year so far from sophomore guard Chris Lawrence, who scored 16 points on 4-of-9 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He also passed out four assists on the evening. Sophomore guard Will Perry recorded his second double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 boards. He went 4-for-7 from the field, 1-for-1 from the three-point arc and 2-for-2 from the foul line. He also passed out four assists. Junior guard Connor Smith scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 3-of-6 from three-point range, while junior guard George Andinoadded 11 points on 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Chase Wardlaw made his return to the lineup after a knee injury late last season sidelined him for the first seven games of this year. He scored 10 points on 4-of-7 from the field.

After a brief 4-0 Mount St. Vincent lead at the outset, the Petrels started asserting themselves on both ends of the floor. They outscored the Dolphins 20-10 over a five-minute stretch to build a 20-14 lead with 14:27 to go in the opening half. Then, after back-to-back Mount St. Vincent baskets, the Petrels went on an 8-2 mini-run to build a seven-point edge with 8:30 left in the half. The Petrels still led 34-30 with 4:48 left in the first, but they then went on a 13-2 run over the next 2:25 to build their largest lead of the half, a 47-32 advantage, with 1:33 remaining.

The Petrels began the second half in much the same fashion as they'd ended the first. They began on a 27-9 stretch over the opening 10:30 of the second half, pushing their lead out to 77-45 and all but clinching the victory with 9:26 remaining. When adding that run to the one at the end of the first half, the Petrels went on a 43-15 run over a 14:12 stretch. After back-to-back Mount St. Vincent baskets finally stopped the run, the Petrels went on another mini-spurt, outscoring the Dolphins 8-0 over a three-minute stretch of play to build their largest lead of the game, 87-51, with 4:40 remaining. Oglethorpe cruised to the victory from there.

The Petrels outshot the Dolphins 55-to-31 percent, including a 48-to-10 percent gap in three-point shooting. Despite turning the ball over 20 times to Mount St. Vincent's 15, Oglethorpe outscored the Dolphins 23-4 off of turnovers. The Petrels outrebounded the Dolphins 45-38.

"It's nice to get back in the win column," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We still have a long way to go, but this was another step in the right direction. Getting Chase back gave us a boost, as well. Now we've got a tough game tomorrow and we're hoping to continue our progression. The most valuable thing for us right now is just getting more game experience."

"We've talked about our season being split into four parts," Ponder continued. "Part 1 ended before exams and didn't go as well as we would have liked. Part 2 started tonight and will continue through our last four non-conference games. Part 3 starts Jan. 8 when we enter SAA play, and Part 4 is the SAA Tournament. We're looking to make Part 2 better than Part 1 was and make Part 3 better than Part 2 and so on. This was a very good start to Part 2."

The Petrels will now compete in the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Tournament championship game Monday when they take on Regis (Massachusetts) at 6 p.m. from Dorough Field House. The Pride defeated Huntingdon 69-68 in overtime in the tournament's opening game Sunday afternoon. Mount St. Vincent takes on Huntingdon in the consolation game Monday at 4 p.m.