Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.- The Belhaven men's basketball team reeled off its third straight victory on Saturday afternoon with 71-65 decision against Freed-Hardeman University (TN) in Rugg Arena. The Blazers, who were coming off a record setting three point shooting performance on Thursday, fired in eight more triples on Saturday giving the team 24 in the last two games.

Belhaven (9-10) stumbled a bit out of the gate and fell behind 17-11 with just over 11 minutes left in the first half. Trailing 19-13 with 9:17 to go in the opening period, the Blazers were able to get things rolling on a triple by junior Luke Rogers cutting the deficit in half. Rogers bucket opened a 9-2 run that resulted in 22-21 Belhaven edge. The Lions countered with a quick 4-0 run to jump back in front 25-22 with Daniel Gravatt and Reginald Gilmore delivering both baskets. The lead ended up changing hands 13 times in the first half.

Belhaven didn't stay on the mat for long thanks to another 9-2 scoring burst. This time the Blazers would remain in front for good after a layup by senior Terence Stringfellow increased the lead to 31-27 and capped the run. Freed-Hardeman closed the gap to one point twice before the end of the half, but an old fashion three point play by junior Chris Cofield gave Belhaven a 37-33 lead at the break.

Although the Blazers stayed in front for the rest of the night, they could never completely pull away from the Lions. Belhaven's biggest advantage in the second half was seven points, occurring on four separate occasions. The first was at 47-40 after a triple by sophomore Wade Scioneaux with 14:50 to play in the contest. Belhaven then led 50-43, 56-49, and 69-62 before the final buzzer sounded.

The closest Freed-Hardeman came to possibly tying or regaining the lead occurred midway through the second half on a layup by Daniel Gravatt to make it a 50-49 contest. Belhaven then went on a 6-0 run on the strength of two baskets by Cofield and another by Scioneaux, bumping the lead back to seven points at 56-49. A Gilmore basket trimmed the score to 56-51 with 6:58 and brought the Lions back within two possessions where they stayed until late in the game. The Blazers were finally able to close out the game with five free throws in the last 29 seconds to seal the win. Senior Jordan Butts sank three from the charity stripe while Cofield bagged two to finish it off.

Belhaven played one of its best games of the season when it came to the offense and taking care of the basketball. The Blazers ended the afternoon with 18 assists and only 11 turnovers. Belhaven also had balance with five players scoring in double digits.

Cofield led the way with 15 points, eight rebounds, and six assists in the win. Sophomore Jerrial Dawson added 12 points; Rogers notched 11 points and eight rebounds, followed by Butts and sophomore Datodrick Pinkston with 10 points each. Pinkston also matched Cofield with six assists and had a team high nine rebounds.

The final overall numbers for Belhaven included 24 of 65 shooting from the field (36.9%), 8 of 17 from three point range (47.1%) and 15 of 20 from the free throw line (75%). The Blazers also out-rebounded the Lions 46-40.

Freed-Hardeman was guided by Gilmore who poured in a game high 20 points. Vincent Dotson chipped in 11 points off the bench while Gravatt rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points and a team high nine rebounds. Ben Meis just led the Lions with six points and contributed eight points to the scoring column. Freed-Hardeman connected on 24 of 64 shots from the field (37.5%).

Belhaven will be back in action on Thursday night when the team hosts the University of Mobile in Southern States Athletic Conference play. The tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.