JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven Men's Basketball team staved off a second half surge by Auburn-Montgomery to pick up a crucial 88-83 win in Southern States Athletic Conference play.
Jordan Bedford led the Blazers (6-13, 3-5 SSAC) with 33 points in the game and tied the Belhaven record for three pointers in a game, sinking seven threes Saturday night.
De'la Mayers and
Josh Gaskin also scored in double figures to help defeat the Warhawks (7-10, 1-6 SSAC).
Belhaven raced out to an 8-2 lead and continued to pile on the points with a 14-0 run that saw the Green and Gold jump out to a 25-8 lead.
The Blazers continued to hold a large lead, as much as 23 points, for the remainder of the half and went into the halftime break up 51-30.
The second half was much different as the Blazers found themselves on the wrong side of an early run. AUM cut the deficit to 53-42 in less than three minutes.
Following the 12-2 run by the Warhawks, Belhaven responded with a run to open the game back up to 20. However, another big run of 11 points by the visitors pulled the gap back to single digits.
After the gap stayed close for over the middle of the second half, AUM had another late push that cut the gap from 10 with five minutes remaining down to one point with 1:53 left.
With the game separated by one possession, Belhaven answered with a basket by Mayers and then free throws by
Josh Gaskin.
Moments later,
Jerrial Dawson helped keep the gap up with four consecutive free throws and with a few seconds left, Bedford sealed the victory with the final two points.
Belhaven outrebounded the Warhawks on the night grabbing 44, while AUM finished with just 27.
Auburn-Montgomery converted 18 Belhaven turnovers to 28 points, while the Blazers had just 16 points off of 11 turnovers.
The Blazers finished with 19 points off of second-chance opportunities while Auburn-University converted second-chance opportunities to 10 points.
Belhaven was 30-of-58 from the field, connecting on 52 percent of its shots. The Warhawks were 31-of-67 on the night, shooting 46 percent.
The Blazers will return to action Tuesday night for a non-conference test against Rust College at Rugg Arena.
