JACKSON, Miss. - The Belhaven Men's Basketball team fell to Huntingdon, 97-80, in the final regular season game of the 2023-24 campaign on Wednesday night. The Blazers wrap up the regular season portion with a record of 16-9 (8-4 CCS), the most wins since the 2013-14 season.

The Blazers opened the scoring with two straight buckets, including an emphatic alley-oop from Judah Jordan to Jermario Hersey, but the Hawks responded with a 10-5 run to take their first lead of the game at the 14:56 mark of the first half. Back-to-back baskets from Jordan Presley and Damien Wheaton gave the Blazers their largest lead of the half at 36-25 with just over seven minutes to go.

The visitors closed the opening frame strong, using a 13-6 run over the last five minutes of the half to trim the Belhaven lead to 46-43 at the break. 

Both teams traded points in the early stages of the second half as the Blazers led 54-52 at the under-16 media timeout after a pair of Wheaton free throws. However, a strong run over the middle minutes of the second half saw Huntingdon take the lead and extend it to double-digits at 77-67 with 7:55 remaining.

Belhaven answered with six straight points to cut the Hawk lead to four, but Huntingdon outscored the Blazers by 13 points over the final five minutes of action to pick up a 97-80 win inside Rugg Arena.

Luke Couch paced Belhaven with 21 points, while Wheaton and Judah Jordan added 16 and 12, respectively. 

The Blazers will be the No. 2 seed in next week's Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament and will host No. 7 Covenant in the opening round on Tuesday, February 20th. Tip time will be announced after the finalization of the tournament bracket.

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