Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team fell to Mississippi College 84-75 in game one of the 2010 Millsaps College New Year's Tournament Thursday night in the Hangar Dome. The Blazers owned the lead for the majority of the first half and were up 39-37 at the break. However, the Choctaws owned the second half and pulled away for the victory.

Belhaven (6-6) had one player reach double figures and that was senior Rob Wallace who tossed in a game high 29 points going 10-21 from the field and 6 of 7 at the free throw line. Wallace is averaging 21 points per game and Thursday's game marked the eighth time that Wallace has scored at least 20 points in a contest this season. Chris Cofield had nine points off the bench followed by Brittion Smith with eight points. The Mississippi College defense made things difficult on Nathaniel Roch'e limiting the Blazer forward to six points and six rebounds. Daryl Arnold had a game high 14 rebounds to pace Belhaven on the boards and Bobby Grier came up with six points, a team high three assists, and four steals.

Belhaven connected on 42.4 percent of their field goals (25-59), were successful on 21.1 percent of their three point tries (4-19), and converted 72.4 percent of their free throw attempts (21-29). The Blazers were outrebounded 44-43 and committed 25 turnovers. Belhaven's defense forced 21 Choctaw errors and both teams had 25 points off of turnovers in the game.

Mississippi College (5-4) was led by Ken Black with 18 points and 10 rebounds giving him a double double on the night. Marlon Ester chipped in with 11 points and Greg Pullman along with Chad Jones each had nine points in the game. The Choctaws had good production from their bench Thursday night with 33 points coming from non-starters.

Mississippi College drilled 39.7 percent of their field goals (27-68), dialed in 35.3 percent of their triples (6-17), and went to the free throw line 33 times cashing in on 24 of them for a 72.7 shooting percentage at the charity stripe.

It was a promising start to the game for Belhaven as the Blazers rolled out to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening two minutes of play. Smith tossed in a pair of free throws to get Belhaven on the board and then Arnold knocked in a layup off the window to cap the 7-0 run. Cameron Bounds was the first Choctaw in the scorebook thanks to a jumper with 17:40 to play in the first half to make it 7-2. Wallace responded with a triple three seconds later boosting Belhaven's advantage up to eight points at 10-2.

A 6-0 Choctaw run cut their deficit to two points at 10-8 with 16:40 in the opening period, but the Blazers ratcheted the lead up to nine points five minutes later on a Cofield jumper to make it 21-12. Leading 25-16 with just over 10 minutes to play until halftime, Belhaven's edge was erased on a 10-0 Mississippi College run that gave the Choctaws their first advantage of the night at 26-25 with 4:32 on the clock. The Blazers regrouped and expanded the lead to 38-31 on a three pointer by Grier with 1:18 until intermission, but the Choctaws made a late charge and were behind by just two points at 39-37 thanks to a buzzer beater by Bounds as time expired in the first half.

In the early moments of the second half, Mississippi College regained the lead for good at 40-39 on a Marlon Ester three point basket. The Choctaws took a seven point edge at 46-39 with 17:53 left in the game off a steal and pull up jumper by Greg Pulliam. That basket capped a 15-1 Mississippi College run that started in the final minute of the first half. The Choctaws would lead by as many as 11 points in the second, but Belhaven could get no closer than three points the rest of the night en route to suffering their third straight loss.

Belhaven will try and get back on track in the consolation game Friday afternoon when they take on Rust College beginning at 1:00 PM. Rust lost to Millsaps 59-56 on Thursday setting up a Millsaps versus Mississippi College matchup in the championship game at 3:00 PM. Fans can catch all the live play-by-play action from the tournament through video stream by clicking here.