Box Score
ROME, Ga.-The Belhaven men's basketball team is putting on the dancing shoes after defeating Loyola University 72-63 in the semifinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament on Friday. The Blazers are headed to the SSAC Championship game Saturday night and are destined for Kansas City, MO and the NAIA National Tournament after locking down an automatic bid by virtue of making the championship game. It will be the four overall appearance in an NAIA National Tournament and second in the last two seasons. Belhaven last went to the big dance in 2010.

Belhaven (16-15) and Loyola were locked up in a back an forth battle through opening moments of the first half trading the lead three different times. The Blazers went on top to stay when sophomore Chris Cofield bagged a field goal with 9:41 to go in the first half to take a 15-14 advantage. Belhaven then muscled its way to a 31-27 halftime lead and held off the Wolfpack in the second half to earn the win.

The Blazers led by as many as 12 points in the final period, but Loyola closed the gap to four points at 62-58 with just over a minute to play on a field goal by Corey Gray. Belhaven senior forward Brittion Smith answered by dropping in a field goal at the 1:01 mark pushing the lead back to six at 64-58. Senior guard Woodie Howard came up with a key steal leading to a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Chris Cofield that essentially put the game away with 53 seconds left.

Cofield led Belhaven with a career high 23 points and six rebounds followed by Howard with 17 points and Smith with 10 points. Cofield was 7 for 12 from the field and a perfect 9 for 9 at the free throw line. Howard grabbed a team high seven rebounds and five steals, junior guard Jordan Butts chipped in seven points and six boards, and freshman guard Datodrick Pinkston added nine points in what was an outstanding team effort. The Blazers shot 42.1 percent from the field (23 for 31) and Belhaven cashed in on 23 free throws on 31 attempts at the charity stripe (74.2 percent).

Loyola (20-10) got a game high 24 points from their center Cameron Cates to lead the offense. Cates also produced nine rebounds and had a pair of blocked shots. Gray chipped in 18 points and seven rebounds followed by Robert Lovaglio with seven points and five rebounds. The Wolfpack knocked down 42.9 percent of their field goals (24 for 56) and were 10 for 16 at the free throw line (62.5 percent). Loyola owned a 39-35 edge in rebounding.

Belhaven will face Shorter University  in the championship game on Saturday night beginning at 6:30 PM. Both the Blazer men's and women's basketball teams will be vying for conference titles. With each team clinching a berth in the NAIA National Tournament, it marks the first time in school history that both teams will be competing for a national title in the same season. Fans can follow all the play-by-play action with live audio via Ihigh by clicking here.