By Harry Davis
Staff Writer
The Sewanee Tigers men’s basketball team defeated the Belhaven University Blazers 89-65 at home.
The Tigers entered the game with three wins and three losses. After a tough loss to sixth ranked Emory, the Tigers looked to bounce back against the Blazers. Last year, the Tigers defeated the Blazers 74-57. Belhaven entered the game with no wins and one loss after a close loss to Millsaps.
The game was tied early, with four a piece less than three minutes into the game, and then Sewanee began to pull away. Sewanee began a 17-2 run and created a lead of 15 points near the halfway mark of the first half. The Blazers closed the lead late in the half as the lead dwindled to five points before Sean McDonough (C’21) hit a three. As halftime approached, Sewanee expanded the lead as Adrian Thomas (C’20) and Jordan Warlick (C’22) scored to make the halftime score 42-32 for Sewanee.
A productive first half for the Tigers as Sewanee shot nearly 50 percent from the field compared to Belhaven’s 36.1 percent. As the second half began, the Tigers slowly expanded their lead from 10 to 18 less than five minutes into the half. Sewanee carried this lead through the majority of the second half as the Tigers responded each time the Blazers put together even a four point run.
With just under five minutes to play in the game, the Tigers put together a quick eight-point run capped off by a Thomas three-pointer to make the score 85-63 with two minutes left in the game to seemingly put the game away. The Blazers would score one more time and the Tigers would score twice in the final 40 seconds to make the final score 89-65.
A great game for Sewanee as they shot nearly 40 percent from the three-point line to Belhaven’s 20 percent. The Tigers showed unselfishness through the game with 16 assists to the Blazers seven. This unselfish play showed Sewanee’s considerable depth in their scoring rotation as they had four players in double figures led by Thomas and Joey Knox (C’21) with 17 points each. Warlick dominated the paint with 14 rebounds, a high for both teams in the game.