The Oglethorpe men's basketball team held off a furious late rally by the homestanding Rhodes Lynx Friday night in Memphis, Tennessee, going back ahead on a Chase Wardlaw dunk with 38 seconds to go after briefly falling behind by a point twice in the game's final minutes, then hanging on with clutch free throws from junior guard Connor Smith. The result was a 66-63 road win in a game that the Stormy Petrels played without sophomore starting point guard Justin Edwards, who missed the game with an injury. The victory improves the Petrels to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in Southern Athletic Association play, vaulting them into a tie for fourth place in the league.
Finding themselves suddenly down 60-59 with 2:05 to go after leading by as many as 18 points earlier in the second half, the Petrels got a big go-ahead basket from junior guard George Andino to go back ahead with 1:35 remaining. Rhodes scored again on their next trip down to go back ahead themsevles with 1:21 to go and got the ball back after sophomore forward Wardlaw missed a pair of free throws, but Wardlaw made up for it with a huge steal and fastbreak dunk to give Oglethorpe the lead back for good, 63-62, with 38 seconds to go. After a couple of wasted possessions by both teams, Smith skied for the defensive board off a missed Rhodes 3-pointer with 18 seconds left and got fouled. He went to the line and calmly knocked down a pair, pushing the Oglethorpe lead out to three points. The Lynx had a couple of chances to tie the game at the other end, but missed both. They wound up getting fouled with less than two seconds to go, really putting the Petrels in control. Rhodes missed the first free throw, but accidentally made the second, reducing their chances to a wild halfcourt heave as time expired after Smith made 1 of 2 foul shots at the other end.
The Petrels were led on the night by Smith, who scored a game-high 21 points on 6 of 10 from the field, 4 of 8 from 3-point range and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Wardlaw finished with 10 points on 4 of 8 from the field. He also recorded eight rebounds and three steals. Sophomore guard Chris Lawrence scored 12 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting while sophomore forward Will Perry added 12 on 5 of 9 from the field and 3 assists.
The Petrels led for almost the entire game and built a substantial edge in the second half. pushing their advantage to as many as 18 points, 46-28, with 15:33 remaining in the contest. Rhodes worked their way closer over the next several minutes, but Oglethorpe still led 59-45 with just 5:30 remaining. The Lynx embarked on a 15-0 run over the next 4:11, though, culminating in three consecutive 3-pointers to pull them to within a point with 2:26 left and a layup off an Oglethorpe turnover to give the Lynx the 60-59 lead with 2:05 remaining.
Up by five points, 28-23, with 3:39 to go in the first half, Oglethorpe began the run that really pushed their advantage. They ran off eight straight points to start the stretch and wound up going on an 18-5 push over a 6:30 stretch, bridging halftime and building their largest lead of the game.
After Rhodes built an early 11-7 lead, the Petrels came back with their first run of the game, a 21-8 stretch over almost 10 minutes to build a 9-point lead, 28-19, with 6:17 to go in the opening half of play.
For the game, the Petrels shot 53 percent from the floor and 35 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. They also sank 10 of their 14 free throw attempts. Meanwhile, Rhodes converted 44 percent of their attempts from the field, 26 percent from long distance, and 50 percent from the charity stripe. Rhodes forced 20 Oglethorpe turnovers while committing just 14 themselves, resulting in a 20-17 advantage in points off those turnovers.
"I thought we had great intensity all night," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We did a great job executing our game plan in the first half. About midway through the second half, we got a little careless with the basketball and let them back into the game. They made a great comeback and it was starting to not look great for us, but we re-gained our composure and made some big plays when we needed them. We were a man down, but we had guys step up. It was a big win for us."
The Petrels' road trip is set to continue Sunday afternoon, when they travel to Conway, Arkansas, to take on Hendrix at 4 p.m. Eastern time. After that, they'll return home to go against Sewanee and Centre next weekend.