Box Score
Jackson, MS-In front of a packed house on Saturday night in Rugg Arena, the Belhaven men's basketball team pulled out a thrilling 89-88 victory in overtime against cross town rival Tougaloo College. Rob Wallace gave the Blazers the lead in OT on two free throws with 16 seconds left and a jumper by Tougaloo's Walter Howard went half way down and popped out as time ran out in the season's final regular season contest.

Belhaven (22-8, 12-6 GCAC) fell behind early in the game trailing 13-6 four minutes into the action. Mario Luckett gave Tougaloo (21-7, 12-6 GCAC) what would prove to be their biggest lead of the night on a jump shot from just outside the paint. The Blazers then went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the contest. Nathaniel Roche' got things going on a layup and Tensley Cowan put Belhaven on top with a layup off an assist by Rob Wallace with 12:43 left in the first half.

The Blazers held a four point advantage of 22-18 with 7:38 remaining in the opening half, but the Bulldogs went back ahead 30-26 on a 12-4 run over the next four minutes of the contest. Belhaven then regrouped and eventually over took the Bulldogs heading into the locker room at halftime. Roche' bagged a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left in the first half to give the Blazers a 35-34 edge at the break.

Belhaven pushed the lead out to seven points at 52-45 five minutes into the final period on a layup by Krayleon Winston. The Blazers took their biggest lead of the game at 58-49 with 10:57 in the second half and appeared to have gained the momentum in the game. However, the Bulldogs had some fight left in them battling back to knot the game at 68-68 with 3:08 remaining.

Things then went back and forth in the final minutes of regulation and the Blazers inched ahead by three points at 79-76 with 16 seconds left following a layup by A.J. Taylor. The lead didn't last long as Keith Fisher nailed a triple with nine seconds left tying the game at 79-79 and thus sent the contest into overtime. Neither team enjoyed a lead bigger than two points in overtime and just like the end of regulation, the outcome would be determined in the final seconds. Fortunately, this time the last second field goal attempt by Howard was off target giving Belhaven their second overtime win of the season.

Belhaven got a great performance from Roche' who tossed in a team high 26 points while grabbing a game high 15 rebounds. It was Roche's eighth double double of the 2010 season. Taylor followed Roche' with 15 points while Wallace along with Larell Bailey rounded out the Blazers double digit scorers with 11 points each. Taylor also had a team high six assists and Detrick Johnson came up with three steals.

Belhaven won the battle of the boards 51-36 and forced 13 Tougaloo turnovers. The Blazers made 52.2 percent of their field goals, 38.5 percent of their three point shots, and 63.6 percent of their attempts at the free throw line.

The Bulldogs were led by Mario Luckett who had a game high 33 points going 11-15 from the field and 11-13 at the free throw line. Frederick Griffin ended the night with 14 points and 14 rebounds off the bench while Juan Gray rounded out Tougaloo's double digit scorers with 13 points. The Bulldogs connected on 42.3 percent of their field goals, 11.5 percent of their shots from behind the arc, and 67.9 percent of their free throws.

Belhaven will begin the postseason on Thursday night when they host Xavier University in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament in Rugg Arena. The Blazers are the number three seed in the tournament and went 1-1 against the Gold Rush during the regular season. Thursday night's tipoff is slated for 7:00 PM.