The Oglethorpe men's basketball team fell behind early Saturday afternoon against top-seeded Berry in the SAA Tournament championship game. The second-seeded Stormy Petrels looked to fight their way back into the game all afternoon, but were never able to gain much traction. Whenever it looked like Oglethorpe might be closing ground, Berry would push the lead back out. The home side side eventually won 72-58, capping Oglethorpe's season at 9-4 overall.

The Petrels held their only lead of the game, 8-6, with 16:25 to go in the opening half of play. Berry embarked on a 24-7 run over the next 10 minutes though and developed a commanding 30-15 lead at the 6:18 mark. Oglethorpe quickly cut it down to an 8-point game, 30-22, but Berry kept them at arm's length the remainder of the half and led 38-28 at the break.

Oglethorpe made some headway early in the second half, scoring the first 5 points to cut the Viking lead to 38-33. Six straight Berry points pushed them back to a 46-35 advantage with 15:37 to go. The visitors quickly cut it to 8, but the visitors just as quickly pushed it back to 15, 53-38, with 12:41 left. Down the stretch, Oglethorpe got no closer than 10 points.

Senior guard Lane Foster finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. He converted on 6 of 7 free throw attempts. Fellow senior guard Dimetri Chambers finished with 11 points, while junior guards Carlos Sone and Ryan Jenei contributed 12 each.

The Petrels shot just 38.6 percent from the field while Berry shot 48.3 percent. Oglethorpe was 7-for-26 from beyond the 3-point line and was outrebounded 41-27.

"We didn't get the result we wanted today," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "We just couldn't get our offense going like we normally do. Some of that is credit to Berry's defense, and some of it was just missing shots we normally make. Despite the loss today, I'm extremely proud of this group. It was the strangest season of all of our lives, but having the chance to play basketball and be around these guys these last 2 1/2 months has been a pleasure. Every team in the country has faced challenges this year, but I think our group handled these crazy circumstances extremely well."