Box Score JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven men's basketball team had its three game winning streak snapped Thursday night, falling to Martin Methodist College 73-59 in a Southern States Athletic Conference battle in Rugg Arena. The Blazers had also won five straight in league play until Thursday's setback to the Redhawks.

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"I'm really proud of our effort in the second half after trailing by 13 at the break," said Belhaven Head Coach John Aiken. "We were able to cut their lead back to five points in the final minutes, but the shots did not fall for us down the stretch."

Belhaven (7-8, 5-2 SSAC) started the game strong and went up by eight point's midway through the first half. Deon Bedford dropped in a layup to make the score 23-15 and it would prove to be the Blazers largest advantage of the night. Martin Methodist (9-5, 4-2 SSAC) turned the tide in the contest during the final seven minutes in the opening stanza. The Redhawks went on a 21-2 run, capped off by a Robert Boyd triple 10 seconds before the buzzer that gave Martin Methodist a 42-29 lead at the break.

Belhaven fought back in the second half to pull within five points at 61-56 on a free throw by Datodrick Pinkston. The Blazers still had four minutes to work with, but on the ensuing possession Boyd drilled another three point shot that swung the momentum back to the Redhawks, who went on to close out the game.

Pinskton led the Belhaven offense with 17 points and did the majority of his damage at the free throw line, knocking down eight from the charity stripe. Chris Cofield followed with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists for the double double and Jordan Bedford rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 points.

The Blazers struggled for the first time in three games shooting the ball on Thursday, connecting on 24.6 percent of their shots from the field (15-61). They were able to make up for some of the missed field goals at the free throw line where they converted 24 of 36 in the game (66.7%). There were plenty of rebounds to be had with both teams combining for 94 of them. However, the Redhawks held the slight edge 50-44.

Boyd led all scorers, pouring in a game high 23 points for Martin Methodist on 9 of 14 shooting from the field. Reginald Porter tossed in 15 points followed by D'Angelo Tucker with 12 and Darius Woods with 10. John Taylor ended the game with 10 rebounds and chipped in six points. The Redhawks shot 38.5 percent from the field (25-65) and were 17 of 25 from the free throw line (68%).

The Blazers will be back on the road Saturday as they travel to Spring Hill College for another SSAC West Division showdown at 4:00 PM.

"The Spring Hill game will be a battle and we will have to be ready to play," added Aiken. "They are well coached and play hard and it will take a full team effort to come up with victory on Saturday."