Box Score
FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga.-The Belhaven men's basketball team lost at Emmanuel College (GA) 65-61 in the opening contest of the Southern States Athletic Conference schedule Friday night. The Blazers faced a 33-25 deficit at the half and battled back to make it close at the end by outscoring the Lions 36-32 in the final period.

Belhaven (1-5, 0-1 SSAC) was led by senior forward Daryl Arnold who sent home a team high 15 points. Arnold also grabbed six rebounds, all coming on the defense end of the floor. He also had a team best four steals against Emmanuel. Arnold has had a great start to the season and leads the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game. His 6.2 rebounds per game average are also tops on the team.

Senior guard Woodie Howard joined Arnold in double figures Friday pouring in 12 points. Howard is second on the team in scoring so far this season with an 11.8 points per game average. Junior Andrew Marshall and senior Brittion Smith followed with nine points each. Friday's leading rebounder was junior Terence Stringfellow who grabbed seven boards and came up with a pair of blocked shots.

The Blazers knocked down 42.6 percent of their field goals (23-54), connected on 25 percent of their triples (3-12), and converted 48 percent of their free throws (12-25). Free throw shooting proved to be costly for Belhaven in the four point loss. Emmanuel had the edge in rebounding 36-31.

Emmanuel (5-1, 1-0 SSAC) had one player in double digits points wise and that was Asmatiek Fields who turned in a game high 16. Francisco Luano just missed a double double with nine points and nine rebounds. Johan Pennerat added eight points and a pair of assists for the Lions off the bench. Emmanuel shot at a 40 percent clip from the field (20-50), dialed in 21.4 percent of their triples (3-14), and converted 71 percent of their free throws (22-31) which proved to be the difference in the game.

Belhaven will hit the court on Saturday as they travel to Southern Polytechnic State for another SSAC contest beginning at 3:00 PM.