Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team hit 58 percent of their field goals and dominated in the post scoring 44 points in the paint to lock up an 80-73 over Southern University of New Orleans Monday night in Rugg Arena. The Blazers have now won two straight games to improve to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Knights fall to 2-14 overall and 2-5 in conference play with the loss.

                                              

Monday's game started out looking like it might be another low scoring affair as each team had only made one field goal three minutes into the game. Iman Walcott made the first Blazer basket at the 17:57 mark of the opening 20 minutes. Lionel Green put the Knights on the board and in the lead for the first time by draining a three with 16:59 on the clock. The scoring picked up over the next minute as suddenly the Blazers had built a four point lead at 10-6 on an 8-3 run capped off by another Walcott with 15:43 to go before halftime.

 

SUNO then put together an 11-2 run to build a five point lead at 17-12 with just under 13 minutes to go in the half. The Knights would hold the lead until Chase Hudson put the Blazers back on top 20-19 with 11:15 on the first half clock. Belhaven then expanded the lead to 34-22 with 6:56 to go in the half on bucket by Nathaniel Roche'. It was Roche's four consecutive basket as he began to establish a strong inside presence for the Blazers.

 

The Knights closed the gap to seven at 36-29 with 4:12 to play before the break on a field goal by Clipton Warren. Belhaven then outscored SUNO 10-3 to take a 46-32 advantage with 13 seconds to go in the half. The Knight's Ramond Henry knocked down a jumper with 3 seconds left in the half and Belhaven went to the locker room with a 46-34 halftime lead.

 

Belhaven came out the break and engineered a 15-8 run to open up the second half and expand their lead to 19 points at 61-42 with 12:28 to go in the game. SUNO battled back using a 17-6 run to cut the Blazer lead to single digits with 6:26 to play in the contest. Clipton Warren completed an old fashion three point play and suddenly with Blazer 19 point lead was trimmed to eight at 67-59. SUNO's Robert Palmer brought the Knights to within four points of the Blazers with 1:33 in regulation. At that point, the scoreboard read 74-69 in favor of Belhaven. The Blazer defense would then tighten up and hold off the Knights the rest of the way to secure the win.

 

Nathaniel Roche' dominated the paint on the offensive end for the Blazers racking up a season high 18 points and 11 rebounds. It was Roche's second double double of the season since joining the team at the beginning of January. Belhaven had two other players score in double figures as Iman Walcott tossed in 16 points followed by Korey Whiting with 14 points.

 

The Belhaven offense knocked down 58 percent of their shots from the field and converted 64.7 percent of their free throws. The Blazers were aggressive going to the basket, getting to the charity stripe 34 times and scoring 44 of their 80 points in the paint. Chase Hudson had a good night managing the offense and finding the open players on the floor with a season high five assists.

 

SUNO was paced by Billy Wilson with 18 points and nine rebounds. Lionel Green had 16 points to go along with seven rebounds while Brent Leduff added 15 points for the Knights.