Box Score JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven men's basketball team moved into second place in the Southern States Athletic Conference West Division on the strength of a 69-63 win over the University of Mobile Thursday night. The Blazers now lead Martin Methodist by a half game after the Redhawks fell at William Carey 91-69. Belhaven also swept the season series from the Rams by claiming an 85-69 win on January 30th in Mobile.

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"Mobile came in with a very good game plan defensively and made things difficult for us offensively," Belhaven Head Coach John Aiken said. "I'm proud of our effort tonight and the guys made adjustments and found a way to battle through for a victory."

Belhaven (14-11, 12-5 SSAC) started strong and opened up an 18-10 lead seven minutes into the first half. Junior Jordan Bedford buried one of his five triples and earned three of his game high 22 points to give the Blazers an eight point edge.

Trailing 25-20 with just under seven minutes to go in the half, Mobile (12-13, 7-9 SSAC) fought back over the next four minutes to grab a seven point lead. The Rams reeled off a 14-2 run, capped on a layup by Kwame Beard to make it a 34-27 game. However, the Blazers would counter with a run of their own. Belhaven outscored Mobile 11-1 over the final three and a half minutes to jump back in front at the break. Senior Chris Cofield gave the Blazers a 38-35 edge on an old fashion three point play with three ticks on the clock.

The Rams kept it close and tied the game early in the second half, but never regained the lead. The Blazers eventually went up by seven again at 59-52 on a layup by Deon Bedford with 6:08 to go in the contest and then with 37 seconds left enjoyed their largest lead of the night at 68-57 on another Bedford layup. Mobile had two late buckets before the buzzer sounded to close the gap to 69-63, but it was too little too late.

Jordan Bedford's 22 points outpaced all other scorers in Thursday's contest. It's the 11th time this season that Bedford has led the team in scoring in a game. Bedford finished the night 8 of 17 from the field and 5 of 10 from three point range. Deon Bedford followed his teammate with 16 points and senior Jonathan Ratliff just missed double figures with nine. Senior Curt Hall pulled down a team best six rebounds while Cofield chipped in seven points and dished out six assists.

As a team, the Blazers made good on 38.6% of their field goals (22-57), drilled 33.3% of their triples (8-24), and converted 70.8% of their free throws. Belhaven was out-rebounded 40-32, but made up for it by forcing turnovers. Mobile committed 22 miscues leading to 21 points for Belhaven on the offensive end of the floor.

Four Mobile players recorded double digit point totals Thursday night. Beard led the charge with 15 points off the bench followed by Julien Sargent with 13 and Chris Richardson with 12. Brandon Morris chalked up a double double with 10 points and a game high 12 rebounds. He also produced six assists. As a team, the Rams finished the night shooting 44.9% from the field (22-49).

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday when the team travels to William Carey for another SSAC showdown with the Crusaders. The tip-off is slated for 4:00 PM in Hattiesburg, Miss.

"We have to be ready to come out and play with composure and see what happens on Saturday," Aiken said. "They are undefeated in the conference and ranked third in the nation right now so it will be a challenge for us."