Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team stayed perfect in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference play thanks to an 80-69 win over the University of Mobile Saturday night in Rugg Arena. The Blazers are now 4-0 in league play and the victory over Mobile completes a 2-0 week that included an upset victory over fifth ranked LSU-Shreveport on Thursday night. Junior guard Detrick Johnson had a career night for the Blazers scoring 22 points while knocking down 14 of his 16 attempts at the free throw line to ignite the Belhaven offense.

The first half of the game proved to be a back and forth battle that saw nine ties and seven lead changes. Mobile (7-5, 1-3 GCAC) established a little momentum in the first four minutes of the contest by opening up an 11-7 advantage with 16:11 on the clock following a three point play by Ji Kimbrough, but then each team traded baskets until late in the first half.

With the score tied at 27-27 and 3:24 showing on the clock, the Blazers began to establish themselves on offense and jumped on top by five at 34-29 on the strength of a 7-2 run. Detrick Johnson and Tensley Cowan made some big free throws while A.J. Taylor knocked down a key jumper to spark the offense. Belhaven (14-2, 4-0 GCAC) then pushed the lead up to nine points at 40-31 with 40 seconds to go until halftime after two free throws by Woodie Howard. The Rams scored the final three points of the half and got back to within six points at 40-34 on a layup by Kimbrough just before the buzzer sounded.

The Rams regrouped at halftime and came out strong to open the second period. Mobile put together an 11-3 run and took a 45-43 lead with 16:36 left in the game. The next two minutes played out much the same way as the majority of the first with each team trading baskets. The 12th tie of the contest occurred at the 14:14 juncture of the second half with the scoreboard reading 47-47. Belhaven then took the lead for good on two Johnson free throws that kick started a 20-10 Blazer run culminating in a 67-57 lead with 7:28 to play in the game. The Rams made an attempt to get back in the contest with 2:38 to go by closing the gap to five points at 72-67, but that's all the closer they would get the rest of the night. The Blazers were able to cash in on some key free throws down the stretch and pulled away for the 80-69 victory.

Johnson's career high of 22 points led all scorers in the game and he along with Woodie Howard paced Belhaven in rebounding as each player recorded six boards. The Blazers had three other players score in double figures with Bailey, Howard, and Krayleon Winston adding 12 points, 11 points, and 10 points respectively. Bobby Grier dished out a game high six assists and went six for eight at the free throw line.

Free throw shooting was the difference in the game Saturday night for the Blazers. Belhaven made a total of 48 trips to the charity stripe and converted on 34 of those attempts for a 70.8 shooting percentage. The Blazers had a pretty good night from the field as well shooting 45.7 percent from the floor while knocking down 4 of their 11 attempts from three point land. The Rams had a slight 38-37 advantage on the boards and Belhaven coughed up the ball 18 times, but forced 20 Mobile miscues that translated into 19 points. The Belhaven bench came up big in Saturday's game scoring 53 of the team's 80 points.

Mobile had two players reach double figures in scoring led by Matthew Turner with 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. Kimbrough chipped in with 12 points before fouling out of the game in the second half. Turner had a game high nine rebounds to lead the Rams on the boards. As a team, Mobile shot 37.7 percent from the field, made 26.1 percent of their three pointers, and knocked down 65.4 percent of their free throws.

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday when they host GCAC foe Loyola University in Rugg Arena. The game is slated to get underway at 7:30 PM.