Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team had a hard time slowing down the Tougaloo College offense Thursday night at Rugg Arena in a 91-80 loss to the Bulldogs in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference action. Tougaloo made 57.5 percent of their field goals and knocked down 56.3 percent of their shots from three point land. The Blazers are now11-8 overall and 3-5 in the GCAC with Thursdays loss. The Bulldogs improve to 13-7 overall and go to 6-2 in league play as they remain tied for first place with LSU-Shreveport and Xavier in the GCAC.

 

The opening four minutes were tightly contested as both teams tried to establish the momentum in the game. Tougaloo scored first on a basket by Frederick Griffin after Iman Walcott had been whistled for an offensive foul on the Blazers first possession. Belhaven enjoyed their only advantage of the night when Allen McClain tossed in a field goal with 18:29 to go in the first half off a missed free throw by Korey Whiting. The score was tied three times in the first four minutes of the game.

 

After the third tie, the Bulldogs began to establish their offense and thus started to build a sizeable first half lead. Over the next eight minutes, Tougaloo put together a 25-11 run to post a 14 point lead at 36-22 with 8:16 to play in the opening half. The Blazers then used a 16-8 run to close the gap to 6 points on a McClain basket at 44-38 with 1:51 on the first half clock. Tougaloo's Fredrick Griffin would close out the half with a last second shot to give the Bulldogs a 46-38 lead at the break.

 

Early in the second half it looked like the Blazers would hang with the Bulldogs the rest of the way. Korey Whiting brought Belhaven to within four points of the lead at 50-46 on a layup with 18:09 to go in the game. That's when Tougaloo engineered a 26-5 run to essentially put the game out of reach. When it was all said and done, the Bulldogs owned a 25 point 76-51 lead with 10:20 left in the contest.

 

The Blazers would make a late push to get within 10 points culminating in a pair of Whiting free throws with one minute remaining in the game. The Bulldogs then increased the lead to 16 points until Hunter Jeffrey hit a pair of late three's to make the final score 91-80 Tougaloo when the buzzer sounded.

 

Korey Whiting led the Blazer offensive attack with 18 points and a team high 10 rebounds marking his seventh double double of the 2008-2009 season. Nathaniel Roche' chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench while Iman Walcott added 13 points and five rebounds. As a team, Belhaven shot 43.8 percent from the field and dialed up 40 percent of their shots from behind the arc. The Blazers converted 64.3 of their free throws in Thursday night's game against the Bulldogs.

 

All five of Tougaloo's starters scored 10 points or more. Jermaine Hodges led the way with 21 points, Keith Fisher had 16 points, Frederick Griffin had 15 points and 10 rebounds to record a double double, and Jermey Cable rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points. Cable and Hodges each added five assists on the night.