Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.-The Belhaven men's basketball team played its 2012-13 home opener in front of a packed house in Rugg Arena Tuesday night, but couldn't overcome a late surge by LSU-Shreveport that sealed an 85-75 win for the Pilots. The Blazers were fighting back from behind the entire night and turned a 10 point deficit into a tie with 6:32 to play. However, LSU-Shreveport engineered an 8-1 run that gave them the boost they needed. The Blazers couldn't get any closer than five points in the rest of the way.

LSU-Shreveport (1-0) set the tone early by rolling out to a 5-0 lead less than a minute into the game. Belhaven (1-2) would rally to tie the game on an old fashion three point play with 15:56 left in the opening 20 minutes of action. Raheem Hogan cashed in the points with a layup and then a foul by Rodney Milum sent him to the charity stripe the bonus free throw. The Blazers ultimately tied the game on four separate occasions throughout the course of the contest, but could never get that one shot to put them over the top and into the lead.

The Pilots eventually took a 35-29 lead into the half and enjoyed their largest lead of the night to that point, 51-41 with 14:14 on the second half clock. Belhaven stormed back to tie the game at 55-55 on a triple by Jordan Butts with just under eight minutes to play. The trey contributed to Butt's triple double as the Blazers senior poured in 15 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists. The Pilots briefly regained the lead at 57-55 only to see Deon Bedford respond with a bucket for the Blazers to knot the game for fourth time with 6:32 left.

Milum then took LSU-Shreveport on his shoulders and scored the next eight points on a pair of triples and two free throws. Milum's second long range jumper in the span of three minutes was the turning point in the game. Milum knocked down the shot deep on the right wing with a defender in front of him and from that point on the Blazers couldn't recover. The Pilots converted free throws down the stretch to claim the 85-75 win.

LSU-Shreveport's Mark Politte led all scorers with 20 points followed by Milum with 17 points. Rydell Harris contributed a double double, grabbing 15 rebounds with 10 points on the stat sheet. The Pilots hit 46.6 percent of their goals (27-58) and went to the free throw line 34 times, converting 24 of them.

Butt's 15 points were a team high for Belhaven as well as his 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Curt Hall had a solid night off the bench with 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field. Jonathan Ratliff and Dione Milsap added 10 points each to round out the double digit scorers. The Blazers shot at a 45.3 percent clip from the field (29-64), but struggled at the free throw line where they went 12 of 27. LSUS won the battle of the boards 46-37 and there were plenty of turnovers to go around as both teams combined to commit 43 miscues in the contest.

Belhaven will try and regroup Friday night when the team hosts Tougaloo College in Rugg Arena at 8:00 PM.