Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven men's basketball team turned in its best performance of the season Tuesday night taking home a 69-64 victory over Martin Methodist College in Rugg Arena. The Blazers shot a season high 46.4 percent from the floor and scored 40 points in the paint leading to a win that snapped a six game losing skid.

Belhaven (2-6) jumped out quickly Tuesday night scoring six of the games first points to build a 6-2 edge two minutes into the action. Martin Methodist (5-2) grabbed the lead for the first time at 7-6 with 16:50 on the first half clock thanks to a three point field goal by James Justice. Both teams traded buckets and the lead over the next four minutes before junior guard Jordan Butts sent the Blazers back in front 12-11 on a layup with 12:13 to play until halftime. Butts field goal sparked an 8-0 run that enabled Belhaven to construct an 18-11 advantage.

The Redhawks trimmed their deficit back to one point at 22-21 with just under six minutes to go in the half, but the Blazers quickly countered with 6-1 scoring spurt spearheaded by a layup from senior forward Daryl Arnold and a pair of field goals by junior forward Andrew Marshall. At that point Belhaven led 28-22, but Martin Methodist shot back out in front 31-28 on a 9-0 run which culminated on an EJ Kirby dunk 39 seconds until the buzzer. However, Belhaven tied the game a few seconds later on a triple from Arnold sending the game to half tied at 31-31.

The back and forth battle between the two teams continued through the second half as neither side could establish control of the scoreboard. The opening moments of the second period belonged to Martin Methodist as the Redhawks opened up a 37-33 lead with 17:20 to play. Belhaven came back to tie the game at 37-37 on a dunk by Arnold with 15:37 left, but Martin Methodist fired in the next four points to quickly moved ahead again. The Blazers then countered with an 11-4 run to go on top 48-45 with 11:19 to go in the game. Arnold came up big again with an old fashion three point to cap the offensive burst.

Unfortunately, Belhaven did not hold the lead for long as the Redhawks once again responded with a 6-0 run to regain a 51-48 advantage with 8:17 in the game. Belhaven surged back on top again at the 6:36 mark when Butts filled up a triple to make the score 54-52. The Blazers went up by six points at 62-56 with just under four minutes left following a pair of Arnold free throws. Martin Methodist would not regain the lead for the rest of the night although they would tie it up on two separate occasions in the final three minutes. With the scored knotted at 64-64 with 1:47 to go, Belhaven secured the win by reeling off the final five points of the game en route to the 69-64 decision. Tuesday's back and forth battle produced 10 ties and 12 different lead changes.

Belhaven was led by Arnold who tossed in a season high 21 points on a 9 of 15 shooting night from the field.  He also had eight rebounds and a couple of steals on the defensive end of the floor. Butts also had a season high in scoring on Tuesday night with 16 points as he drilled five out of his six shots from the floor including two from three point land. Senior guard Woodie Howard added 11 points in the game to round out Belhaven's double digit scorers. Senior forward Brittion Smith dished out a game high seven assists to go along with seven points and Marshall fired in six points and grabbed a game and season high 13 rebounds. The Blazers took good care of the basketball Tuesday night limiting themselves to just 14 turnovers.

Laquantis Stewart led the way for Martin Methodist with 21 points and 11 rebounds giving him a double double. Marlon Williams was the only other Redhawk to reach double digits in the point column with 19. The Blazers defense held Martin Methodist to a 36.2 percent shooting night from the field (25-69). The Redhawks enjoyed a slight rebounding edge of 43-40.

Belhaven will take some time off for Thanksgiving and hit the court again on Tuesday when they entertain Union University (TN) in Rugg Arena beginning at 7:30 PM.