Box Score
Tougaloo, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball withstood a furious second half comeback and held on for a 66-58 victory at Tougaloo College Saturday night. The Blazers saw a 10 point halftime lead disappear thanks to a Bulldog 21-6 run that put Tougaloo on top with 8:30 to play. Belhaven then recovered with a 10-0 run of their own to jump back in front and from there never looked back on their way to the victory that avenged a 74-58 loss to the Bulldogs earlier in the season.

Belhaven (5-3) was led by senior guard Rob Wallace who had a game high 27 points which also matched a season high. Wallace tossed in 27 points against Blue Mountain College on November 6th in the opening game of the year. Wallace is now averaging 19.4 points per game and was fifth in the Southern States Athletic Conference in scoring coming into Saturday's game. For the game, Wallace was 8 of 18 from the field and made some clutch free throws knocking down 7 of 10 from the charity stripe.

Belhaven had one other player in double figures and that was senior forward Nathaniel Roch'e who had 14 points and a team high nine rounds just missing another double double. Roch'e is averaging 14.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game so far this season. Freshman Forest Yarbrough had a solid night with seven points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Daryl Arnold had just four points, but was a big presence in the paint pulling down nine rebounds while rejecting three Tougaloo shots.

Belhaven hit 41.2 percent of their field goals (21-51), connected on 35.3 percent of their triples (6-17), and 72 percent of their free throws (18-25). Belhaven lost the rebounding battle with the Bulldogs 45-40 and committed 20 turnovers compared to 13 by Tougaloo. However, Belhaven's defense held the Bulldogs to a 28.6 shooting percentage from the field. Tougaloo also struggled from behind the arc converting just 12.5 percent of their triples (3-24) while making just 45.8 percent of their free throws (11-24) proving to be the difference in the game.

Tougaloo (7-3) had two players reach double figures in scoring led by Marquise Mems who tossed in 18 points. Mario Luckett recorded a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out late in the second half. James Carter paced the Bulldogs in rebounding with a game high 11, but could only muster five total points. Horace Whitehead ended the game with seven points and nine rebounds.

Belhaven scored the first two points of the game on a Wallace layup five seconds into the action to take a 2-0 edge. Tougaloo then went on a mini 5-0 spurt which was capped by a Mems three pointer giving the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead with 18:30 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs would have the upper hand until the 9:39 minute mark of the first period when Jaybri Williams launched the Blazers back out in front on an old fashion three point play. Belhaven pushed the lead to 10 points at 33-23 with a little over two minutes to play until halftime and eventually took a 38-28 lead into the locker room at the break.

Tougaloo came out strong to begin the second half reeling off the 21-6 run to regain the advantage at 50-44 with 8:30 remaining in the contest. Then the turning point in the game came on the 10-0 Blazers run that gave the Blazers a 54-50 lead and sent the momentum back to the Blazers which they used to pull away for the victory. Belhaven sealed the deal in the final three minutes on some key free throw shooting by Wallace, Bobby Grier, and Yarbrough.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday when they play host to Pensacola Christian College in Rugg Arena. The Blazers topped the Eagles 88-71 on November 30th at PCC. Saturday's tip-off is slated for 7:00 PM and it will be the first home game for Belhaven since November 16th when they defeated Blue Mountain College 87-59. Fans can follow all the action through live stats by clicking here.