JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven University men's basketball squad cruised to an 82-73 win over Howard Payne University inside Rugg Arena on Tuesday evening. The Blazers improve to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

The Blazers opened the game going on a 12-2 run to give Belhaven the advantage early on. The Blazers and Yellow Jackets exchanged buckets for next few possessions, but Belhaven extended their lead to 11 points late in the first half. Howard Payne made a late push, but the Blazers led 35-30 going into the halftime break.

Belhaven remained consistent in the opening possessions of the second half and extended the lead to 19 points with 11:36 remaining in regulation.  Over the next five minutes of action, Howard Payne cut the advantage to six points. The Green and Gold continued to fight hard and secure the 82-73 victory over the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets.

The starting five for the Blazers all had double-digit scoring in the contest. Matthew McMillan led the way with 14 points and eight assists. Donavan Givens scored 13 points, shot 66.6 percent from the field, and went 3-for-4 from behind the arc. Luke Couch finished the contest with 12 points and had three steals. Rian Shields went 3-for-3 from the field and perfect from the charity stripe. Arother Ratliff added 10 points and led the team with eight rebounds. As a team, the Blazers shot 47.4% from the field, 40% from behind the three-point line and went 16-for-20 from the free throw line.

The Blazers will return to action on Saturday, December 18 against the Sul Ross State University Lobos inside Rugg Arena. Tip-off is slated to start at 3:00 p.m.

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