Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team mounted a strong second half comeback overcoming a 14 point deficit to pull out a 75-72 win against Union University (TN) in Rugg Arena on Tuesday night. The Blazers began to climb back into the game with 14:19 left in the second half and took the lead for good with 3:19 to play. Belhaven held off a late charge by the Bulldogs upsetting the 11th ranked team in the NAIA Top 25 Preseason Poll.

Belhaven (7-0) got off to a good start in the game scoring the first five points of the night to take the early lead. Nathaniel Roche' got the offense going with a layup a minute into the action. A few seconds later, Bobby Grier drilled a three point shot at the 18:13 mark of the first half and the Blazers had a 5-0 advantage. Union (4-3) then jumped on top for the first time at 7-6 on a three point basket by Antoine Joseph with 16:38 left on the opening half.

With the score tied at 9-9, the Bulldogs engineered a 17-7 run to open up a double digit lead over the Blazers with 6:41 left until the break. Belhaven got back to within eight points four times before the end of the second half on a couple of buckets by Rob Wallace and field goals by Roche' and Woodie Howard. However, Union managed to build the lead back to 10 points at 37-27 before the buzzer sounded ending the first half.

Belhaven started a bit slow out of the gate in the second half and saw Union extend their lead to 14 points with just over three minutes gone by in the final period. Following a Blazer foul by Wallace, Greg Truvillion connected on a pair of free throws to make it a 47-33 game in favor of Union. Still trailing by 14 at 51-37 following a layup by Truvillion, the Blazers began to chip away at the deficit. Belhaven used a 20-7 run over the next seven minutes to get within one point of the Bulldogs at 58-57 thanks to a layup by Wallace with 6:59 to go in the contest.

Union then scored the next four points on a field goal and a pair of free throws by Keith Tolliver and with 6:20 left the Bulldogs owned a 62-57 advantage. The Blazers quickly responded with a 9-3 run capped off by a huge three point shot by Krayleon Winston to get the Blazers within one and then after a steal by Wallace, Winston drove the lane for a layup putting Belhaven back on top at 66-65 with 3:21 to go in the game. Belhaven was then able to hang on for the win on some key free throws by Howard and on another clutch three pointer, this time by Bailey giving the Blazers the 75-72 victory.

Belhaven had four players score in double figures led by Woodie Howard with 22 points. Rob Wallace had another solid night by tossing in 17 points followed by Nathaniel Roche' with 12 points and Larell Bailey with 10 points. Howard was also very effective on the boards hauling down a team high nine rebounds on the night. Detrick Johnson did not score, but made his presence felt on defense with a game high five steals. Belhaven forced 21 Union turnovers while the Blazers took good care of the ball coughing it up just 14 times on the night.


As a team, Belhaven knocked down 45.3 percent of their shots from the field, connected on 33.3 percent of their triple tries, and made 52 percent of their opportunities from the free throw line.

Union was led by Greg Truvillion with a game high 26 points and 10 rebounds to record the double double. Keith Tolliver had 17 points off the bench while Stan McNeil led the team with five assists. The Bulldogs won the battle of the boards 39-34, but the previously mentioned turnovers especially down the stretch hurt the Bulldogs. As a team, Union made 48.3 percent of their field goals, 25 percent of their three pointers, and 69.2 percent of their shots at the charity stripe.

Following Tuesday night's game, Belhaven has five players averaging double figures in scoring led by Roche' (14.6 p/g), Howard (13.4 p/g), Bailey (13.1 p/g), Wallace (12.6 p/g) and Tensley Cowan at 10.1 p/g. Belhaven is averaging 94.9 points per game while keeping opponents to a 74.4 points per game average.

Belhaven will now have a week off for the Thanksgiving Holiday and will be back in action Tuesday night December 1st when they host Rust College in Rugg Arena. The tip-off is slated for 7:30 PM.