Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team picked up the first Southern States Athletic Conference win of the season Saturday night defeating the University of Mobile 76-66 in Rugg Arena. The Blazers, who opened conference play Thursday night with a disappointing loss at Auburn-Montgomery, came back strong and elevated their game in Saturday's win.

Belhaven (10-8, 1-1 SSAC) was once again led by Rob Wallace who fired in a game high 23 points and now had scored at least 20 points in a game 11 times this season. Wallace is now averaging 20.8 points per game on the year. On Saturday, Wallace was 7 of 17 from the field and nearly perfect at the free throw line where he made 9 of 10 attempts. Wallace also dished out a game high five assists against the Rams.

Nathaniel Roche' played a solid game as well recording 16 points going 6 of 10 from the field with a game high eight rebounds. Daryl Arnold also played well chipping in nine points with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Brittion Smith contributed seven points and six rebounds off the bench while Michael Rivers had two points and five blocked shots. The Blazers as a team combined to block nine Mobile shot attempts. Belhaven came in to the game ranked 9th in the NAIA in total blocked shots with 69 and now have 78 in 2010-11.

Belhaven had one of their best shooting nights from the field and it proved to be one of the differences in the game. The Blazers connected on 54.2 percent of their field goals hitting 26 of 48 attempts for the game. Saturday's performance was second only to a 60.4 percent shooting night in a win over Rust College December 31st. The Blazers were able to score 44 points in the paint and only took nine three point shots making one of them (11.1 %). Belhaven was also very effective at getting to the free throw line converting on 23 of 34 attempts for a 67.6 shooting percentage. The Blazers had a slight edge on the boards outrebounding Mobile 39-36. Belhaven committed 19 turnovers and forced 13 Mobile miscues.

The University of Mobile (8-6, 1-1 SSAC) was led by Ji Kimbrough with 21 points who made 10 of his 18 field goal attempts. Donte Walker notched 12 points and had four steals followed by Kevin Galloway who chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds. Matthew Turner tossed in six points and grabbed seven rebounds. The Rams hit only 38.6 percent of their field goals (27-70) and struggled from three point land and at the free throw line. Mobile was just 2 of 12 (16.7%) from behind the arc and converted only 43.5 percent of their free throws (10-23). Mobile scored 22 points off Blazer turnovers, but that wasn't enough to overcome their struggles from the free throw line and the field.

As has been the case in a number of games this season, Belhaven got out to a quick start and in the first two minutes of the game established a seven point lead at 9-2. Wallace put the Blazers on the board with a layup 25 seconds into the action and Bobby Grier capped the run on a fast break layup with 18:04 on the first half clock. Mobile then pulled even at 12-12 on a Calloway layup with 12:48 left in the opening period and over the next seven minutes it would be a back and forth battle that saw four different ties.

The Rams grabbed their only lead of the night at 22-21 on another Calloway layup at the 5:40 mark of the first half. It didn't last long as Smith pushed Belhaven back out in front 23-22 on a layup after he secured an offensive rebound. Smith's basket began a 16-5 Blazer run that closed the first half and sent Belhaven into the locker room with a 37-27 lead.

Belhaven continued to expand the advantage at the beginning of the second half and eventually constructed a 53-33 edge. The Rams were able to mount a late charge and got back to within four at 64-60 with just over four minutes left to play. However, Belhaven came up with a pair of key layups to shut down the threat. Roche' rebounded his own missed shot and tossed back up and off the window for two followed by a fast break layup by Wallace off a feed from Grier who was credited with the assist giving the Blazers a 68-60 cushion with 3:08 to go. Mobile would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as Belhaven held on for the 76-66 win.

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday night when they travel to William Carey University for another SSAC matchup which is slated to get underway at 7:30 PM.