MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Blazers finished their time at the Rhodes Holiday Classic with a matchup against the Berry College Vikings on Saturday, December 14, with the Vikings edging out the Blazers by a final of 72-69.

The Vikings opened the game scoring the first nine points to take an early lead; however, the Blazers fought back cutting the lead to one point at the 12:36 remaining mark of the first half. The Vikings did not relinquish the lead as they pushed it out to ten points with 4:13 left in the first half, and eventually carried an eight point, 43-35, lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Blazers stormed out to a 16-4 scoring run to start the second half knotting up the score at 49 apiece with 13:06 left in the game. The Vikings once again increased their lead to nine points with 8:20 remaining, but once again the Blazers battled back to cut the lead to one point with 36 seconds left in the game. However, the Vikings held on and added their final two points with ten seconds remaining and forced a Blazers turnover to seal the 72-69 victory.

Senior guard Brosnan Cooks led the Blazers offense in points with 19 and assists with six while sharing the team lead in rebounds with five. Freshman guard Luke Couch shared the rebound lead with Cooks, and was second on the team with 16 points to go along with two steals, while senior guard Trai James added ten points with two steals and three rebounds. Senior guard Justin Jones and junior guard Joshua Roberts had eight points each, senior guard Rick Hoodum and sophomore guard Nehemiah Womack had three points apiece, and senior guard Kelvin Pruitt had two points to round out the scoring for the Blazers.

As a team, the Blazers shot 22-for-53 for a percentage of 41.5 including a 10-for-25 from the three point area for a percentage of 40.0, and went 15-for-16 from the charity stripe for a percentage of 93.8. The Blazers scored 24 points in the paint, had 12 points off turnovers, five second chance points, and had eight points from their bench.

The Blazers fall to 1-5 on the early part of the season and will return to action on Tuesday, December 17, as they host the Mississippi University for Women Owls. Tip at Rugg Arena is set for 5 p.m.

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