Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team lost a tough decision at home to 13th ranked Shorter University Friday night 80-78 in a Southern States Athletic Conference cross divisional matchup. The Hawks Marquise King hit what would prove to be the game winning jumper with eight seconds to go in the contest. Rob Wallace had a chance to tie it with a jumper in the lane as the buzzer sounded, but the shot glanced off the front of the rim and Shorter escaped with the victory.

Belhaven (6-4) was led by Wallace who had a game high 32 points on an 11 of 21 shooting night from the field. Wallace continued to stay hot from behind the arc as he drilled 50 percent of his triple tries (5-10). Wallace also had five assists, four rebounds, and a pair of steals in Friday night's game. Nathaniel Roch'e also played well for the Blazers scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to pace Belhaven on the boards. It was his sixth double double of the season raising his scoring average to 15.6 points per game and rebounds per game to 11.2. Roch'e also picked up three more blocked shots giving him 23 so far this year.

Belhaven had one other player in double figures and that was Daryl Arnold with 17 points and seven rebounds. Like Roch'e, Arnold also rejected three Shorter field goal attempts in the contest. Bobby Grier finished the game with seven points and a game high seven assists. The only other two Blazers to score were Brittion Smith and Stephan Collins who each had two points. Belhaven didn't get a lot of offensive production from the bench Friday night and in fact Shorter's bench outscored Belhaven's 38-2.

As a team, Belhaven connected on 43.8 percent of their field goals (28-64), made 41.2 percent of their three point attempts (7-17), and 65.2 percent of their opportunities at the free throw line (15-23). Belhaven was outrebounded 40-37 and gave the ball away 12 times. Belhaven's defense forced 13 Shorter turnovers.

Shorter (11-1) had three players land in double figures point wise led by Walter Hill with 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting. Hill was also the Hawks leading rebounder with seven boards against the Blazers. Marqise Wright tossed in 14 points before fouling out in the second half and Dante Harvey chipped in with 12 points off the bench. The Hawks had nine different players score in the game and the only player not to score was Eric Nix. However, Nix was still productive dishing out a team high five assists in 17 minutes on the floor.

Shorter made good on 43.3 percent of their field goals (29-67), hit 33.3 percent of their shots from three point land (8-24), and were on target at the free throw line 82.4 percent of the time (14-17).

Shorter took control of the game early by opening up an 11-4 lead out of the gate to build a seven point edge five minutes into the game. Neither team could muster a field goal through the first two minutes until Darius Steger hit a jumper to put the Hawks ahead. Belhaven got on the board a few seconds later on a layup by Arnold to knot the game a 2-2, but was followed by a 9-2 run by Shorter. The Blazers then pulled to within one at 11-10 with 14:10 remaining in the opening period on a three pointer by Wallace. The Hawks then pushed the advantage out to six points at 16-10 only to see Belhaven storm back on a 7-0 run to grab their only led in the first 20 minutes at 17-16 with 10:40 on the clock. A layup by Grier put the Blazers in front momentarily, but the lead would not last long.

Shorter's Willie Woodard came right back down the floor and knocked down a jumper as Shorter vaulted back ahead at 18-17 with just over 10 minutes to play in the opening half. The Hawks eventually extended their lead to eight (42-34) with just under two minutes to go on a layup by Brown. The Blazers scored the final three points of the half on a layup and free throw by Roch'e and trailed 42-37 at the break.

With just under four minutes gone by in the second half, Belhaven knotted the game at 47-47 on two free throws by Roch'e. That was followed by another lead change and tie before Belhaven grabbed the lead for just the second time on the night. Daryl Arnold threw down a fast break dunk to make it a 51-49 game with 14:03 to play. The dunk was part of an 11-0 Blazer run that resulted in a nine point lead (58-49) with 12:17 on the second half clock. Shorter finally stopped the bleeding and put together an 11-2 run to tie the game for the fifth time at 60-60. Walter Hill got hot from downtown and drilled three triples to account for nine of the 11 points in the scoring spurt that arguably was the turning point in the second half.

Over the next five minutes the game went back and forth until Shorter opened up a five point edge again at 74-69 following a Harvey three pointer with 4:56 to go. Belhaven eventually pulled even again at 78-78 late in the half on a Wallace jumper at the 1:06 juncture. Unfortunately, the final basket of the game would belong to King and the Hawks in the final seconds giving Shorter the 80-78 win.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday night as they host Texas Wesleyan University beginning at 6:00 PM in Rugg Arena. The Rams enter the game with a record of 10-0 and are ranked fourth in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. Fans can follow all the action through live stats by clicking here.