Box Score HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Belhaven men's basketball team came up just shy of upsetting 3rd ranked William Carey University Saturday night, falling to the Crusaders 91-88 in Southern States Athletic Conference play. The Blazers had a 12 point lead with just over five minutes to go in the game, but the Crusader defense had other plans, keeping Belhaven off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

(Box Score-HTML)
On paper, the game had the makings of being a high scoring contest and that's exactly how things played out Saturday night. Both teams shot above 50 percent from the field and combined to score 36 fast break points. Before it was all said and done, the score was tied six different times and the lead changed hands on 10 other occasions.

William Carey (22-2, 16-0 SSAC) led for the majority of the first half, but could never create a gap with Belhaven (14-12, 12-6 SSAC) greater than two possessions. Trailing 43-38 with 3:11 left to play until the break, the Blazers exploded for a 12-3 run and grabbed a four point lead. Junior Datodrick Pinkston got things rolling with two free throws and junior Jordan Bedford capped it with a pair of shots from the charity stripe of his own. The Crusaders bounced back by hitting the last field goal of the half, leaving Belhaven with a 50-48 lead at the intermission.

The Blazers controlled the lead through the first four minutes of the second half before William Carey went on a quick 7-2 run to go up 65-61 with 13:13 on the clock. At that point, the Belhaven offense took off and outscored William Carey 27-11 over the next eight minutes resulting in an 88-76 lead. Unfortunately, the offense would go stone cold for the remainder of the game.

The Crusader defense did not allow another point and was the catalyst for the comeback win. Jeremiah Dunnings eventually put William Carey in front with 57 seconds left and Daron Bell cashed in two free throws to create some additional separation. The Blazers had a couple of chances to tie it up in the final seconds, but three point shots from Jordan Bedford and Jerrial Dawson were off target giving William Carey the 91-88 win.

Belhaven was led by Jordan Bedford with 27 points on 10 of 18 shooting from the floor. In addition, Bedford was 5 of 10 from three point range. Curt Hall followed Bedford with 17 while Deon Bedford and Jonathan Ratliff each chipped in 11 points. Deon Bedford led the Blazers in rebounding with five while Ratliff and Jordan Bedford dished out five assists. Belhaven shot 60 percent from the field (33-55), but gave up 21 second chance points.

William Carey had four players in double figures, guided by Donovan Walker with 22. Daron Bell wasn't far behind with 20 while Kelvin Nixon and Demarcus Lewis contributed 11 and 10 respectively. The Crusaders fired in 55.6 percent of their field goals (35-63) and out-rebounded the Blazers 35-24. William Carey took advantage of 16 offensive rebounds for second looks at the basket.
Despite the loss, the Blazers remain in second place in the West Division standings, a half game ahead of Martin Methodist. The 24th ranked Redhawks were upset by Spring Hill College on Saturday

Belhaven will be back in action on Tuesday night at Xavier University in a non-conference contest before returning to Rugg Arena Thursday night to battle Loyola. Tuesday night's tip-off is slated for 6:00 PM.