JACKSON, Miss. - The Belhaven Blazers Men's Basketball team saw their season end on the very last day of conference play as they were just edged out of the American Southwest Conference Tournament in their first season of NCAA D-III eligibility.

The season started off a little shaky as the Blazers lost their first four games, but then picked up their first win of the season on the road against the Rhodes College Lynx, 86-83. The Blazers then went on to win seven of their next ten games and ultimately finished the season 10-15 overall, and 7-9 in ASC play. The highest point total for the Blazers in the season came in a road overtime victory, 101-96, over the Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets with the dynamic duo of Luke Couch and Brosnan Cooks leading the way with 28 and 22 points respectively.

Head Coach Jonathan Vines and Assistant Coach Jay Welborn led the Blazers team featuring an offense that averaged 83.5 points per game, second best in program history, and a conference-leading 17.6 assists per game. The Blazers shot 45.3 percent from the floor including 36.3 percent from the three point area, making 262 on the season which is also the second-most in program history, and 72.5 percent from the charity stripe, which is fourth-best in program history. The Blazers also averaged 31.6 rebounds per game and forced 15.4 turnovers per game. The Blazers saw their dynamic duo of Cooks and Couch earn spots on ASC All-Division Teams as well as Couch being named the East Division Freshman of the Year.

Cooks, a two-time All-East Division team member, finished the season averaging 18.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game, leading the Blazers in all three areas, while playing an average of 29.8 mintues per game, also a team high for the season. The senior guard/forward from Elba, Alabama, shot a field goal percentage of 49.7, including 33 percent from the three point area, and shot 73.6 percent from the free throw stripe. Within the ASC, Cooks finished sixth in scoring, second in rebounds, third in assists, fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio, third in defensive rebounds, 11th in field goal percentage, and 13th in minutes per game. Cooks was also a teo-time recepient of the ASC East Division player of the week earning the honor both times in the same month on December second and 30th.

Couch finished the season averaging 17.5 points, three rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game, while playing an average of 29.5 minutes per game. Couch shot a field goal percentage of 48.2, including 39.5 percent from three, and 78 percent from the charity stripe. The freshman guard from Vestavia Hills, Alabama, finished second on the Blazers in points and steals per game, fifth in assists, and sixth in rebounds.  Within the ASC, Couch finished eighth in scoring, tied for tenth in three-point percentage, 13th in three-pointers made, 14th in field goal percentage, and 17th in minutes per game. 

The Blazers also had several individual and team efforts break into the record books this year. As a team, the Blazers had seven game performances make it including: fourth most three-point field goals made with 20 against East Texas Baptist University on January 25, while also getting a two-way tie for sixth most three pointers made with 16 against Huntingdon College on December 30, and on the road at Howard Payne on January 2. During the game against Howard Payne, the Blazers tied for fourth most three pointers attempted with 42, whle the squad also holds the fifth spot on that list with 38 in the aforementioned game against Huntingdon College. The final two team game records were for free-throw percentage as the Blazers tied for second-highest against Berry College shooting 93.8 percent on December 14, and then hit the fourth-highest mark shooting 93.1 against Mississippi University for Women on December 17.

Brosnan Cooks had four individual game record performances on the season starting with scoring a career-high 42 points against Covenant College on December 28, 2019, and third-best scoring performance, while also getting the sixth best performance with a 40-point outburst on the road against ETBU on February 20, 2020. Cooks also had the third-most field goals made in program history in that game against ETBU with 16, while also tying the second-most rebounds in a game with 19 on the road at LeTorneau on February, 22, 2020. Senior guard Rick Hodum tied the school record for most three pointers in a game with seven against Louisiana College on February 5, while senior guard Trai James 12 assist game against Covenant College on December 28 is fourth best in program history. Junior guard Josh Roberts is in a two-way tie for seventh all-time season three-point field goal percentage with 42.7 percent, while senior guard Justin Jones finished his career tied for eighth best season free-throw percentage with 83.3 percent.

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