Box Score JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven men's basketball team returned home to Rugg Arena Tuesday night for a non-conference showdown with Dillard University following a two game road trip this past weekend. The Blazers picked up right where they left off, rolling to a 79-56 win over the Bleu Devils and in the process extended their winning streak to three games.
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"We played great this weekend and the solid effort that the players gave continued into tonight," said Belhaven Head Coach John Aiken. "We are playing a small lineup right now and with that wanting to play fast. That led to some fast break baskets on the offensive end and created some turnovers on the defensive side of the ball.
Datodrick Pinkston was big for us in the first half setting the tone for the rest of the game. He got our transition offense going and created some havoc defensively."
Belhaven (7-7) didn't trail for long and quickly found the rhythm Tuesday night. Dillard (4-4) scored the first four points of the night in the opening minute, but shortly after that the Blazers got things rolling. Belhaven built its first double digit lead at 24-14 on a layup off the fast break by
Curt Hall with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half. The largest Blazers advantage of the opening stanza was 35-21 thanks to a traditional three point play by
Jerrial Dawson with 3:59 on the clock.
Belhaven enjoyed a 40-29 edge at the break and kept the momentum going through the final 20 minutes. Within the first three minutes, the Blazers had pushed the lead to 20 points at 51-31 on free throws by
Chris Cofield and then at the midway point built their biggest advantaged of the night 69-43. Dillard would come no closer than 21 points the rest of the way.
Four Blazers enjoyed double digit scoring nights, led by
Jordan Bedford with 20 points.
Chris Cofield had 19 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the field while Pinkston chipped in 14 with a game high six assists and five steals.
Deon Bedford paced the team in rebounds with seven and added 13 points of his own off the bench.
As a team, the Blazers made 45.2 percent of their field goals (28-62) and drilled 38.9 percent of their triples (7-18). They had a solid night at the charity stripe, converting 84.2 percent of their chances at the line (16-19). Belhaven forced 27 Dillard turnovers and turned them into 33 points. Many of them, 22 to be exact, came in transition on fast break baskets.
Jeremy Rixner was Dillard's only player to crack the 10 point mark with 11 in the game. He had seven rebounds and five blocked shots on the defensive end of the floor. Robert Pratt just missed a double double with nine points and nine rebounds. Belhaven's defense limited the Bleu Devils to a 39.1 percent shooting night from the field (25-64), including 1 of 11 from three point range (9.1%). Dillard did out-rebound Belhaven 46-34 and came up with 19 second chance points thanks to 19 offensive boards.
"We played good in spurts tonight, but we are going to have to play very well for 40 minutes to have a chance to win Thursday against Martin Methodist," added Aiken. "Martin Methodist has some very solid wins this season and is going to be one of the better teams we have played this year. It should be a great challenge for us and I'm excited about where we are at. We just have to keep taking steps forward one day at time."