Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team traveled up the road to Mississippi College Monday for their final non-conference game of season. Unfortunately for the Blazers, the Choctaws came away with a 68-65 victory in A.E. Wood Coliseum. Belhaven is now 8-3 on the season after suffering their second straight loss. Mississippi College improves to 7-3 overall.

 

Both teams exchanged baskets in the first half of the opening 20 minutes of play with neither side establishing control of the game. The Blazers were finally able to open up a five point lead at 22-17, as Iman Walcott drove to the rack for two with 8:52 to go in the first half. Belhaven's largest lead of the half came at the 6:26 mark thanks to a Krayleon Winston jumper, which made the score 27-21. At that point, the Choctaws closed the gap using a 9-3 run over the final 6:26 to knot the score at halftime 30-30.

 

Korey Whiting had eight first half points to lead the Blazer offense while Hunter Jeffrey also provided a spark of the bench by drilling a pair of three point shots to check in with six points. Krayleon Winston played well on the boards in the first half as he grabbed four rebounds for the Blazers. Michael Benson led Mississippi College with eight points in the opening 20 minutes. Belhaven struggled from the field as a team connecting on just 38 percent of their shots. The Choctaws hit 43 percent of their field goals.

 

Mississippi College came out of the gate strong in the second half as they opened up a six point lead two minutes and forty seconds into the second half. With the score 38-32 Mississippi College, the Blazers went on a 5-0 run to cut the Choctaw lead to one with 16:51 on the clock and then tied the game at 39 a piece a couple of minutes later. The turning point of the game came on a 10-0 run by the Choctaws over the next three minutes to establish a ten point 49-39 lead.

 

The Blazers fought back and trimmed the lead down to one point at 55-54 with 3:38 to play on a pair of Iman Walcott free throws. A few seconds later, Richard Worthy dialed up a long distance three to make it a two possession lead for the Choctaws who then went on to hit some key free throws down the stretch to hold of the Blazers for the victory.

 

Belhaven had three players score in double figures, led by Korey Whiting with 17 points. Iman Walcott finished the game with 13 points followed by Phillip Holmes with 12. Whiting who leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game, also hauled in a team high seven rebounds against the Choctaws. The Blazers connected on 41 percent of their field goals and struggled from behind the arc converting just 15 percent of their triple tries. Belhaven did hold the edge in rebounding 33-30 over Mississippi College.

 

The Choctaws also had three players with 13 or more points led by Richard Worthy with 15. Michael Penson had 14 points and Bryan Johnson chipped in 13 points in just 15 minutes of action. Clarence Jeffery had six rebounds to lead Mississippi College in that category.