Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven men's basketball team dominated Rust College Thursday night defeating the Bearcats 84-54 in the opening game of the Belhaven Holiday Classic. The Blazers owned the paint scoring 52 points in the lane while enjoying a 56-28 edge in the rebounding department.

Belhaven (5-9) never trailed and quickly established the lead on a dunk by senior Brittion Smith in the opening minute of action. Rust tied the game for the only time when Markeith Wilson bagged a jumper with 18:44 to play in the first half. Sophomore Chris Cofield gave the Blazers the lead for good a few seconds later on a layup that made the score 4-2.

From there, Belhaven expanded the lead into double digits with just over eight minutes left in the half. Freshman Datodrick Pinkston bumped the score to 23-12 on a layup and the Blazers eventually increased the margin to 36-19 at the half. Belhaven came out of the gate in the second half and continued to pile on the points boosting the lead to 40-20 in the first minute. Rust would get no closer than 18 points the rest of the night.

Smith led Belhaven amassing a season high 24 points and 11 rebounds for his first double double of the season. Senior Woodie Howard sent home 17 points followed by Cofield who rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points and six assists. Junior Andrew Marshall added eight points and a game high 13 rebounds. As a team, the Blazers had one of their best shooting nights from the field knocking down 49.2 percent of their field goals (32-65). They hit 58.1 percent of their shots in the second half. Belhaven also had 20 second chance points and 26 points came off the fast break.

Rust was paced by Wilson who dropped in 21 points trailed by Larry Veasley with 10 points in the contest. William Montgomery had eight points and six assists while Jordan Seals recorded a team best five rebounds. The Bearcats were limited to a 35 percent shooting night from the field (21-60) by Belhaven's defense. They also committed 21 turnovers which translated to 24 Blazer points on the other end of the floor.

Belhaven advances to the championship game Friday night as they take on Mississippi College beginning at 7:00 PM. The Choctaws defeated Millsaps 69-60 on Thursday to punch their ticket to the championship. Rust will play Millsaps in the consolation game on at 3:00 PM. For the latest scores and live stats fans can visit the tournament webpage by clicking here.