Box Score
JACKSON, Miss.- The Belhaven men's basketball team started out slow but came to life in the second half, rallying from a 10 point first half deficit for a 63-56 Southern States Athletic Conference victory Saturday against Auburn-Montgomery. The win snapped a six game losing streak and puts the Blazers back in the hunt for a spot in the SSAC Tournament.

Auburn-Montgomery (9-12, 7-7 SSAC) exploded out the gate for a 22-12 lead with 8:10 left to go in the first half. Belhaven (10-16, 6-8 SSAC) had pulled to within a one point at 13-12 until a 9-0 scoring run capped on layup from Dominique Ellis gave the Warhawks their biggest lead. Over the final eight minutes of the half, Belhaven began to chip away at the deficit, outscoring AUM 16-4 during the final stretch of the first period.

The Blazers took the lead for the first time in the game on a triple by senior Jordan Butts with 1:20 on the first half clock and then junior Curt Hall buried a free throw with 49 seconds left to send Belhaven into the locker room with a 28-26 lead.

The Warhawks tied the score at 28-28 on a layup by Tristen Harrell 17 seconds into the final period, but Hall would give Belhaven the lead for good on a dunk that brought the crowd to its feet a few seconds later. The dunk started a 7-0 run that resulted in a 35-28 advantage with 17:16 to play.

Auburn-Montgomery continued to stay within striking distance until late in the contest when Belhaven went up 60-50 on a dunk by Butts. The Warhawks got no closer than seven points over the final three minutes.

Butts ended the game with 18 points followed by Hall with 16 points and 13 rebounds to pace Belhaven. Hall found his game again on Saturday after struggling in his last few outings. Chris Cofield rounded out the double digit scorers with 15 points in the contest. As a team, the Blazers were 19 of 43 from the field (44.2%) and out-rebounded AUM 33-31.

The Warhawks had two players reach double digits with Reshad Bickham leading the way with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Ellis had 11 points off the bench. Auburn-Montgomery fired in 24 of 55 shots from the field (43.6%).

The Blazers will head to the University of Mobile on Thursday night for another key Southern States Athletic Conference contest. Belhaven is a half game behind Mobile for the final spot in the SSAC playoffs. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 PM.