The Oglethorpe men's basketball team found themselves on the wrong end of a nearly incredible shooting performance in their season opener Friday night against Johnson (Tennessee) as part of the Lon Varnell Classic in Sewanee, Tennessee. The Royals scorched the nets at a 57 percent clip from 3-point range, making 20 three-point baskets over the course of the game while shooting 49 percent from the field overall, sinking 40 total shots. Under those circumstances, the Stormy Petrels didn't have much of a chance in a 113-85 defeat.
Oglethorpe shot the ball well, too, for their part. They converted at a 45 percent clip from the field and made 10 three-pointers of their own, shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc. It wasn't enough to slow down Johnson, however.
The Petrels were led by sophomore guard Justin Edwards, who scored a team-high 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore center Tom Inungu finished with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 8 boards while senior guard Connor Smith contributed 11 points. Senior guards George Andino and Mike Turner tied for the team lead with 3 assists and senior center Connor Sigrist recorded a game-high 3 blocks.
Johnson got off and running quickly, sinking back-to-back threes early on to take a 6-2 lead. After that, the two teams traded baskets for awhile. The Royals slowly began to pull out to a small lead late in the first half, as they built a 34-26 advantage with 4:11 remaining in the period. Back-to-back Petrel baskets cut that back down, but Johnson went on a run just before the halftime break. They outscored Oglethorpe 12-2 over a two-minute stretch late in the half and expanded their advantage to 14 points, 46-32, with 44 seconds remaining in the period. Andino answered with a basket before the half, making it a 12-point game at the break, 46-34.
The Royals really turned it on in the second half, though, shooting 71 percent from 3-point range and 60 percent from the field overall en route to scoring 67 points over the second 20 minutes of play. They began the half with a 7-2 run over the opening minute. The Petrels responded with six straight points of their own, making it 53-42, but Johnson used a 33-13 run over the next six minutes to push out to a commanding 86-55 lead. From there, the two teams basically traded baskets the rest of the way, but the damage was already done.
The Petrels turned the ball over 17 times and allowed 19 points off those giveaways while forcing 10 turnovers and scoring 8 points off of them. The Petrels outrebounded the Royals 47-44 over the course of the contest.
"We just came out flat and they jumped on us," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "I've never seen a team shoot like they did tonight. Anytime we tried to creep back into it, they would make a couple of threes or turn us over. It was kind of a perfect storm. If nothing else, this was certainly a wake-up call for us. I'll be interested to see how we come out tomorrow."
The Petrels will look to quickly rebound, as they continue their stay at the Lon Varnell Classic when they take on Boyce Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern from Sewanee. After that, they'll travel across the country to southern California, where they'll take on Caltech on Monday night at 10 p.m. Eastern and La Verne Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern.