Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team headed to Kansas City to participate in the Buffalo Funds NAIA National Tournament for the first time since 1972. The Blazers turned in a historic 2009-10 season that saw the team break the school record for most wins in a season with 24. Belhaven completed the season with an overall record of 24-10 and finished in a three way tie for second place in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with Tougaloo College and William Carey University. The Blazers made a strong GCAC Tournament run losing to LSU-Shreveport 101-94 in the championship game after having completed the GCAC schedule with a 12-6 conference mark.

Belhaven's 1972 season under Head Coach Charlie Rugg produced the only NAIA National Tournament appearance for the Blazers prior to this year. Belhaven went 22-6 during that season and included victories over Jackson State and Nichols State who are now both NCAA Division I programs. The Blazers opened the 1972 Tourney with a win over Quinnipiac (Conn.) 75-64.

Belhaven was the 16th seed in the 1972 national tournament which has a different seeding format than that of the NCAA Tournament. The field consists of 32 teams with the top 16 earning seeds. Following their win over Quinnipiac, the Blazers met up with Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the second round and lost 59-53 ending their tournament run. Wisconsin-Eau Claire went on to advance to the championship game losing to Kentucky State 71-62.

Belhaven opened the 2009-10 campaign with eight straight victories including a win at home over Union University (TN). Ironically, the Blazers first loss of the year came a few days later at Union and at that point Belhaven owned an overall record of 8-1. Belhaven then rallied for wins over Blue Mountain College and Trevecca Nazarene University who was ranked 13th in the country at that time.

Following the Christmas Holiday, Belhaven lost to Mississippi College but then proceeded to win their next seven games to go to 17-2. The Blazers were also unbeaten in the GCAC at that time with a conference mark of 7-0. Belhaven then hit their roughest stretch of the year dropping three straight GCAC road games to Xavier (LA), Tougaloo, and LSU-Shreveport before rallying for an 82-73 win at home against Dillard. Belhaven then went 3-3 in their next six games including an 89-88 OT win over Tougaloo in the regular season finale. Belhaven began the postseason in the GCAC Tournament with a win over Xavier 71-56 and followed that up with another triumph over Tougaloo 73-67 before bowing out to LSUS in the championship. Belhaven ended the year with a 66-54 setback to sixth seeded Biola University (CA) in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament. Belhaven dominated in their home games this year going 17-1 in 2009-10. The Blazers only loss at home was an 89-79 setback to Mississippi College on January 4th.


Nathaniel Roche', a junior forward from New Orleans, LA, led the Blazers this season averaging 13.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Roche' hit just over 56.5 percent of his field goal shots in 2009-10. Roche' was fourth in the GCAC in field goal percentage at 56.5 percent and is fourth in the league in rebounds per game at 8.1 for the season.

Larell Bailey, a senior guard from North Little Rock, AR, was second on the team in scoring with an average of 11.0 points per game. Bailey is tops on the team in three pointers made with 59 and has made 36.4 percent of his shots from behind the arc. Bailey ranked sixth in the GCAC in total three pointers made, three pointers made per game, and three point shooting percentage. Bailey and Roche' were both GCAC All-Conference selections for their efforts this season.

Rob Wallace, a junior guard from New Orleans, LA, was the third Blazer to average double figures in scoring at 10.8 points per night. Woodie Howard, a junior guard from Starkville, MS, had a solid year with a 9.8 points per game average and senior guard Krayleon Winston had some big games especially down the stretch completing the year averaging 8.9 points per game. Winston also knocked down 44 percent of his field goal attempts.

As a team, Belhaven averaged 81.7 points per game while holding opponents to a 75.3 points per game scoring average. The Blazers were sixth in the NAIA in rebounds per contest at 42.8 and ninth in steals per game at 10.5. Along with the numerous individual and team accomplishments, Head Coach Tom Kelsey was selected as the GCAC Coach of the Year. Coach Kelsey just completed his fifth season as Belhaven's Head Coach and guided the Blazers their second consecutive appearance in the GCAC Tournament semifinals.

“Our 2009-2010 was a special season for a lot of reasons,” said Head Coach Tom Kelsey. “We were able to set the school record for wins in a season and it was the first time back to the NAIA Division I National Tournament since 1972. Also we had some players that really played well at key times during the year.”

“Nate Roche was named an honorable mention NAIA All American. In addition Nate was named to the GCAC All Conference team along with Larell Bailey. We had a group of seniors: Larell, John Jibol, AJ Taylor and Krayleon Winston that each made major contributions to our program.”

“At times down the stretch run of our season Larell, AJ and Krayleon carried us with their play on the court. The last month especially in crunch situation those three guys seemed to make the big plays at both ends of the floor.”

“John is going to be missed because of his strong character and team attitude. He is one of the most likeable and dependable teammates I have been around as a coach in my career. He was the type of player that you will have a hard time replacing and an even more difficult time explaining how important he was to the program. The stats may not show his contribution, but anyone involved in the program understands how valuable he was to our success.”

“Our senior class put the bar up high for other classes that now will follow. John and Larell were 5th year seniors. AJ had an injury that earned him a red-shirt so he was in his fifth year of college. Krayleon had played junior college basketball where he played a lot of minutes for two seasons before he came to Belhaven. These young men all leave with a lot of experience. They gave us confidence on the floor. Experience and maturity in big games and pressure situation is valuable and that now leaves a void that our returning players will have to fill. You take things for granted as a coach, but as the season was over I began to realize how important and how much of a veteran team we had. We also were going to have to replace them with quality players and quality leaders.”

“Coach John Aiken and I are very excited about the 2010-2011 season. We head into a new conference, the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC), which will be one of the toughest NAIA leagues in the country. Our schedule is going to give us some good challenges in the non-conference part of the schedule. We still have some of the former GCAC members (Dillard, Tougaloo and Xavier) on our schedule and hope to keep those rivalries going.”

“With this past season's success we feel that our recruiting has gone well, but still we are on the lookout for players. The good thing about the NAIA is you can bring in transfers and bring in good ones and improve your team right away. We will only do it if it fits in with the mission of the school and it is a fit academically.”

“As far as right now we have signed and have some commitments from some young men that fit our vision. As a coaching staff we are excited to get them on campus soon and look forward to school starting in August”.

With some solid building blocks in place and some talented new players coming in, the 2010-11 season is shaping up to be another great season for Belhaven basketball.