TOUGALOO, Miss. – The Belhaven Blazers and Tougaloo Bulldogs played another tightly contested battle Saturday night with the Blazers coming out on top 95-90 to pick up the series victory against the crosstown rivals 2-1.
 
Jordan Bedford sank a pair of free throws late to extend the Blazers (4-10) lead to five and Belhaven forced a turnover late to seal the victory for the Blazers.  Bedford finished with 17.
 
Belhaven and Tougaloo (1-5) traded wins in the first two games this season. The Bulldogs won the first meeting 82-69, but Belhaven answered with a 100-98 win at Rugg Arena in the second game between the two rivals.
 
Jerrial Dawson had three big three pointers in the second half after being held scoreless in the first 20 minutes. With the third of the three pointers, Dawson moved into third place all time on the Blazers career three-pointers made list with 119. Dawson finished the game with 13 points.
 
In total, six Blazers finished in double figures. Josh Gaskin matched Bedford for a team-high 17 points in the game and also had 10 rebounds in his first action of the season. 

Datodrick Pinkston finished with 16 points and Dycus Juste and Josh Carpenter had 13 and 12, respectively.
 
The Blazers and Bulldogs traded baskets and mini-runs throughout the first 20 minutes, with the teams trading the lead five times and tying eight other times. Belhaven had a large lead of four with Tougaloo's largest lead at six points.
 
Dycus Juste led all scorers in the first half, scoring 10 points, including back-to-back big three pointers to erase Tougaloo's 6-point lead midway through the half.
 
The Blazers shared the scoring duties for much of the half, with Jordan Bedford scoring nine, Josh Gaskin adding eight and De'la Mayers with seven point in the first half.
 
Belhaven shot 45 percent from the field in the first half, connecting on 14-of-31 attempts from the field. The Blazers were also 9-for-11 from the free-throw line in the first half.
 
Defensively, the Blazers struggled in the first half as Tougaloo finished with 55 percent (17-of-31) shooting in the first half, including 5-for-11 from three-point range.
 
Much like the first half, the Blazers and Bulldogs traded runs and stayed close for most of the second half. Belhaven opened up an 8-point lead with 7:32 left, but Tougaloo worked its way back to the Blazers quickly with a run of its own.
 
With the win, Belhaven improves to 5-2 against Tougaloo in the last seven meetings.
 
Belhaven will now have 20 days off over the holiday break before the Green and Gold head to Pulaski, Tenn. for the first of two Southern States Athletic Conference games in two days to begin 2015. Belhaven will take on Martin Methodist on January 2, with first tip set for 7:30 p.m.