Box Score JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven men's basketball team claimed its second consecutive Southern States Athletic Conference victory Friday night, defeating Auburn University-Montgomery 85-52 in Rugg Arena. The Blazers arguably turned in their best all around performance of the season with contributions from 11 different players. Belhaven's bench was especially impressive, outscoring the Warhawks reserves 53-13.

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"Obviously this is the most complete game we have played this season," said Belhaven Head Coach John Aiken. "I thought our bench was the catalyst tonight and the depth of our team is a major strength for us."

Belhaven (3-3, 2-1 SSAC) got out off the gate slow but quickly picked up the play early in the first half. Auburn University-Montgomery (2-4, 1-2 SSAC) raced out to a 6-0 lead before the Blazers scored eight unanswered points to grab the edge with 14:14 to play in the first half. Jerrial Dawson drilled the first of four triples in the opening 20 minutes to put Belhaven on top and in the process got the offense rolling in the right direction.

"Jerrial really got things going for us in the first half with those four three point shots. Right now we are undefeated when we control the lead at halftime and I told our guys that we need to find a way to get the lead at the break. Jerrial along with the other guys did a great job to make that happen," Aiken said.

Auburn-Montgomery briefly pulled back in front 12-11 on a Brandon Howard trey at the 13:07 mark of the first half. However, Dawson would strike again from downtown nine seconds later to push Belhaven back in front at 14-12. It would spark a 10-0 Blazer run resulting in a 21-12 lead with 8:55 to play in the first half. Belhaven would never relinquish the lead from that point on.

Belhaven owned a 37-26 advantaged at halftime and continued to build on it during the second half. The Blazers converted 57.6 percent of their second half field goals thanks to good looks inside the paint. Of the 48 second half points, 34 of them were scored in the paint.

With Dawson drawing out the defense on three point shots in the first half, that opened things up for Jordan Bedford and Brandon Greene in the post. Bedford notched 13 second half points and Greene added eight more in the second after recording six in the first half. Greene's 14 points tied Dawson for the team high of 14 on the night. With the offense firing on all cylinders, Belhaven cruised to the win.

Datodrick Pinkston joined Bedford, Dawson, and Greene in double figures with 11 points, including seven in the second half. Deon Bedford grabbed a game high 11 rebounds and Curt Hall finished the night with five points and six assists. The Blazers shot 48.6 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Warhawks 50-37.

Auburn-Montgomery had three players in double figures, led by Spencer Jones with 14 points. Da'Keidres Wade and LeShaun Murphy followed with 12 and 11 points respectively. The Warhawks top rebounder was Brett Person with nine boards. Belhaven's defense limited the Warkhawks to a 33.3 percent shooting clip from the field.

The Blazers will hit the court again Saturday when they host Emmanuel College in another SSAC showdown. Emmanuel, ranked 20th in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, lost for the first time this season on Friday night at 10th ranked William Carey University 94-87.

"We have Emmanuel coming in and we can't celebrate tonight's victory for too long," Aiken said. "We have to get some rest and get ready to play against a great team. Hopefully we can find a way to get a signature win tomorrow."