JACKSON, Miss. - The Belhaven men's basketball team opened up the 2016-17 season with an 85-76 victory over Riverside Drive rival Millsaps Wednesday evening inside Rugg Arena. 

The Blazers got double digit scoring from five different players, paced by 16 points each from Ron Davis and DJ Young-Beasley. 

Belhaven came out of the gates with strong outside shooting, draining four three-pointers in the first eight minutes of play and finishing the first half shooting 7-16 from behind the arc. 

Davis and Young-Beasley each made a three-pointer for the first two Belhaven baskets of the new season. Terik Richardson converted a layup attempt at the 14:40 mark of the first half to cap off an 8-0 Blazers run and give the Green and Gold an early 11-5 lead. 

A minute later Dyron Anderson knocked in a three-pointer of his own, putting Belhaven up 14-7. Millsaps answered with six straight points to close the gap to one point, but Anderson drilled another shot from downtown to extend the Blazers lead to four. On the next Belhaven possession, Victor Price converted an old-fashioned three-point play to once again put the Blazers up by seven. 

The Majors chipped away at the Blazers lead, and with 4:23 to play before the halftime whistle, took their first lead in nearly 12 minutes as Buck Blanz made a fastbreak layup to give Millsaps a 30-29 advantage. 

Belhaven would respond in a big way, however, closing the first half on an 11-2 run to take an eight-point lead into the break. Gian Van Heeringen made two straight baskets and Davis knocked down a long three-pointer at the halftime buzzer. 

Back-to-back fastbreak layups by Richardson and Anderson to start the second half gave the Blazers their first double-digit lead of the game. 

Belhaven's defense held Millsaps without a point for the first four minutes of the final half. But after the 6-9 Van Heerigen stepped outside and knocked down a long ball, the Majors would go on a 5-0 run to trim the Blazers lead to single digits with 12:35 to play.

Another Young-Beasley three-pointer at the 10:35 mark pushed Belhaven's lead back up to 13 points, and the Blazers would hold a double-digit advantage for the next seven minutes of play.

With just over two minutes remaining, Brandon Pressley rebounded a Millsaps missed layup and found Richardson wide open on the other end of the court. Richardson took two dribbles and threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk to the put the exclamation point on a Belhaven victory.

Richardson finished with 14 points on 7-12 shooting while Pressley recorded 13 points and five rebounds. Anderson added 12 points and four assists in 27 minutes off the Blazers bench.

Davis dished out 10 assists to go along with his 16 points. Young-Beasley pulled down six rebounds and connected on four shots from downtown on five attempts.

Belhaven shot 50% (29-58) from the floor and finished 38.5% (10-26) from the three-point line. The Blazers held the Majors to just 42.9% shooting from the floor.

Brennan Gager paced Millsaps with 17 points while Trent Markwith nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.

The win for the Green and Gold is the team's first season-opening victory since 2012. 

Next up, the Blazers travel to Memphis, Tenn. on Wednesday, Nov. 23 to face the Rhodes College Lynx. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. 

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