The Oglethorpe men's basketball team used a blazing first half from the field Sunday afternoon in Conway, Arkansas, to jump out to a 13-point lead at halftime over the homestanding Hendrix Warriors. The Stormy Petrels maintained their edge throughout the entire second half and cruised to a 71-61 win. The result improves the team to 8-9 on the season overall and 3-3 in Southern Athletic Association play. 

The Petrels jumped out to the big halftime lead with lights-out shooting in the first half. They sank 67 percent (10 of 15) of their 3-point shots in the opening stanza and shot 65 percent (15 for 23) from the field as a whole. Meanwhile, junior guard George Andino came off the bench to score 17 points in the opening period on 6 of 8 from the field overall and 5 of 7 from 3-point range. 

For the game, Andino finished with 19 points on 6 of 9 from the field overall, 5 of 8 from 3-point range and 2 for 2 from the charity stripe. Sophomore forward Chase Wardlaw had his best game of the year so far, as well, scoring 17 points on 5 of 8 from the field and 2 of 3 from long distance. He also passed out a game-high six assists and recorded three steals. Sophomore forward Will Perry scored 12 points on 4 of 7 from the field and 4 of 5 at the line, while freshman center Tom Inungu added 10 points on 4 of 6 from the field while recording a pair of blocks.

The Petrels fell behind the Warriors 9-5 in the very early-going, but they quickly responded and asserted control over the game. Still down by three points with 10:45 left in the opening half, the visitors went on a 13-2 run over the next 2:50 to push out to a 27-19 lead. Hendrix answered with five straight points to get the margin back to three, but the Petrels pushed it out again with 13 straight over the next 3:05 to push the Oglethorpe advantage out to 16 points, 40-24. 

After leading 43-30 at the halftime break, the Petrels continued to push their advantage. After a Wardlaw 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining in the half stopped a brief Hendrix run, the Petrels continued that momentum into the second half. They put together what amounted to an 8-1 stretch and built their largest lead, 48-31, with 18:10 remaining in the contest. 

The Warriors mounted a comeback, though, as they scored seven straight points to cut the Oglethorpe lead to 10 with 16:06 remaining. Then, down 55-42 with 11:40 left, Hendrix ran off six consecutive points to cut the Petrel lead to just seven, 55-48, with 9:03 remaining. It was as close as the home team would get.

The Petrels immedialty pushed the lead back out to arm's length with an 8-2 mini-run, giving themselves a 63-50 advantage with 6:34 left in the game. The visitors cruised to the victory from there.

For the game, Oglethorpe converted 53 percent of their field goal attempts while holding Hendrix to just 38 percent. The Petrels didn't hit a 3-pointer in the second half, but finished at 48 percent from beyond the arc for the game while holding the Warriors to just 17 percent. Oglethorpe also recorded an assist on 21 of their 24 made baskets over the course of the game while outscoring Hendrix 26-18 off the bench. The Warriors did outrebound the Petrels 12-4 on the offensive glass while scoring 13 points off 14 Oglethorpe turnovers. By contrast, the Petrels scored 6 points off 10 Hendrix giveaways. 

The Petrels again pulled off the victory without the services of regular starting point guard Justin Edwards. The sophomore had to sit out both weekend games with an ankle injury. In addition, Inungu and Perry played with foul trouble for much of the second half, limiting their minutes. 

"Today was a great team win," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We had one starter out with an injury and we had a couple of starters in foul trouble, but we had a lot of guys step up and give us good contributions. It was a total team effort. It's always great to get a road sweep. The team took another step forward this weekend."

The team will head back home from Arkansas overnight and will get ready for two more SAA games Friday and Sunday, as they welcome Sewanee and Centre to the Blacktop in Dorough Field House. They'll take on the Tigers Friday at 8 p.m. before going against the Colonels at 3 p.m. Sunday.