Box Score
Jackson, MS-It wasn't pretty at times, but the Belhaven men's basketball team found a way to get by Oakwood University 56-51 at Rugg Arena Tuesday night. With the win, the Blazers are 7-1 to begin the season. Oakwood came into Tuesday's game 6-4 and fall to 6-5 with the loss.

In the first half, both teams struggled to find their offense in what ended up being a very defensive period. The Ambassadors led for most of the half with Belhaven's only advantage being one point at the 2:25 mark. The score was tied seven different times in the opening 20 minutes including the halftime score of 23-23. The Blazers hit just 29 percent of their shots from the field in the first half. However, Belhaven had a good half at the free throw line drilling five of six shots from the charity stripe. Julien Marion led the Blazer offense in the first half with five points and Korey Whiting had a team high of seven rebounds. Eric Adams had nine points to lead the Ambassadors in the first half.

The Blazers got out of the gate quickly in the second half scoring the first five points on a two point field goal by Iman Walcott and three point bomb by Dax Miller. Oakwood quickly recovered and went on an 11-0 run to build their largest lead of the game, 36-28 with 12:26 to go. The Ambassadors hit three treys during that 11-0 stretch. Oakwood would not relinquish the lead until Korey Whiting made a pair of free throws with 1:38 to go in the contest to tie the score at 46 all. After a brief Blazer lead, Oakwood tied the game 48-48 with 53 seconds to go on two free throws by James Doggette. In the final minute, Belhaven was able to secure the game by knocking down five of their six free throw attempts in route to the 56-51 win. Coming into the game, the Blazers were shooting just 60 percent at the free throw line.

Belhaven had two players reached double digits in scoring led by Korey Whiting with 12 points while Phillip Holmes added 11 points. Whiting also notched his third double double of the season by pulling down 11 rebounds. The Blazers converted on 33 percent of their shots and 75 percent of their free throw opportunities including 10 of 14 in the second half. The Belhaven defense also stepped up big in Tuesday's game forcing 27 Oakwood turnovers. That proved to be a big factor considering the struggles of the Blazer offense.

Eric Adams paced the Ambassadors with 13 points and Derrick Long recorded seven rebounds. The Ambassadors were held to a 37 percent shooting clip from the field by the Belhaven defense.

The Blazers will have some time off before their next game which will be on December 12th at the College of the Southwest. The tip-off is set for 5:30 PM.