The Oglethorpe men's basketball team found themselves in a tough game with Millsaps Friday night in Jackson, Mississippi, but they finished on a 12-1 run over the final 4:10 of the contest to turn the game in their favor, and they walked away from the Hangar Dome with 63-56 victory. The win improved them to 12-5 on the season overall and a perfect 6-0 in SAA play, allowing them to push out to a 2-game lead in the league standings.
The Petrels used a 13-2 run early to jump out to an 18-6 lead just over six minutes into the game, and they held a 12-point edge again, 26-14, at the 8:59 mark of the half. That 12-point advantage would turn out to be Oglethorpe's largest of the contest. Millsaps bounced back from that, though, outscoring the Petrels 15-1 over the next 7:30 to come back and take a 29-27 lead with 1:30 left in the half. The Majors maintained a 1-point lead at the break.
The two teams went back and forth in the second half, with Millsaps maintaining a small advantage for the majority of the period. After the Majors pushed it to a 4-point edge with just over four minutes left, though, the Petrels began their run. Several free throws cut the home team's advantage to two, 56-54, and then a layup from junior center Tom Inungu tied the game with 2:30 remaining on the clock. Freshman forward Will Koch sank a pair of free throws to give the Petrels the lead with 1:10 remaining, 58-56. It was a lead they wouldn't relinquish, and freshman guard Lane Foster put the contest out of reach with a layup at the 19-second mark, giving Oglethorpe a 60-56 lead.
Koch and junior forward Will Perry led the way for Oglethorpe, each scoring 15 points on the evening. Perry converted on 8 of 12 free throws while recording a pair of steals and Koch finished 5-for-6 from the field overall, 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Foster also scored in double figures, collecting 10 points on 4-of-8 from the field while recording a game-high eight assists and three steals.
The Petrels shot just 40 percent for the game, but they forced 20 Millsaps turnovers while committing just seven of their own, leading to a 12-3 discrepancy in points off turnovers. Oglethorpe also held Millsaps to just 41 percent from the field.
"This team keeps finding ways to win," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "This was a tough, hard-fought win. We were down four with less than five minutes to go, but we had a bunch of different guys step up and make clutch plays down the stretch and we got some key defensive stops. I'm really proud of how the guys just stuck with it and persevered."
The Petrels will continue their road trip on Sunday, as they make their way to Alabama to take on Birmingham-Southern at 4 p.m. Eastern. The Panthers are currently in a 3-way tie for second place at 4-2 in league play.