HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Belhaven Men's Basketball team was unable to stop a second half comeback by No. 16 William Carey on Thursday night, falling 96-90.
 
Jordan Bedford led all scorers with a season high 34 points and all five starters for the Blazers finished in double figures, but it was not enough for the victory in a tale of two halves.
 
The Blazers jumped out to a 42-34 lead at the intermission. The two teams played a close game for the first 12 minutes until Jordan Bedford gave the Blazers the lead with a three pointer. Bedford then followed it up with another three and Josh Gaskin made a jumper to extend Belhaven's lead.
 
Early in the second half, Belhaven extended its lead to as much as 10, but William Carey crawled back to tie the Blazers at 56 with 13:27 left.
 
After the lead was traded several times, Carey took the lead at the 9:24 mark remaining in the half to go up 68-66. Carey used the basket to fuel a 13-0 run that put Belhaven behind 79-66.
 
The Blazers worked their way back after going down, cutting the deficit to two at 89-87 with a Jerrial Dawson three pointer with 1:59 remaining.
 
However, the Blazers were unable to bridge the gap over the final minutes.
 
Datodrick Pinkston was second in scoring for the Blazers on the night, finishing with 15 points, including 11 from the free-throw line. He also had six rebounds.
 
Dawson finished with 13 in the game, including four three pointers, tied with Bedford for most in the game on either side.
 
De'la Mayers finished with 10 points and joined Josh Carpenter with seven rebounds to lead the Blazers in the game.
 
Josh Gaskin was the other starter for the Blazers in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
 
Belhaven finished the game 27-of-62 from the field and 8-of-25 from behind the arc. The Blazers were 28-of-37 from the free-throw line. Belhaven was outrebounded 52-34 in the game.
 
The Blazers will return to action on Saturday as Belhaven returns home to Rugg Arena for a 4 p.m. contest against Auburn University-Montgomery.