Atlanta, Georgia ~ Rhodes College dropped their SCAC road contest against Oglethorpe University today, 55-61. It was a highly contested battle for the entire forty minutes and although, the Lynx led for the majority of the game they couldn't finish off the Petrels in the closing minutes and succumbed to the defeat. With the loss the Lynx drop back to .500 on the year with a 6-6 overall record and are 1-3 in the SCAC.
An Oglethorpe bucket opened the scoring with just under a minute gone by in the game, but Rhodes came right back as senior Andyshea Saberioon (Houston, TX) knocked in a jump shot. After two Petrel free throws gave the home team a 4-2 lead, the Lynx scored eight straight with senior Larry Cunningham, JR. (St. Charles, MO) (St. Charles, MO) scoring four straight in the run. A jumper by Nathan Ollie (Memphis, TN) pushed the Lynx lead to 14-6 with half the first period remaining. Another Cunningham basket gave the Lynx a double digit lead at the 8 minute mark. The Petrels fought back cutting their deficit to four points. Rhodes would not fold though, as they rattled off six straight points, capped by a Kory Kilpatrick (Athens, GA) layup with just 2:53 remaining. Oglethorpe responded with a 7-0 run of their own before a back door layup by Andrew Sillyman (Cordova, TN) stopped the run and gave the Lynx a 29-24 lead heading into halftime.
Both teams struggled to open the second half and traded defensive stops before a Cunningham jumper gave the Lynx a seven point advantage. Rhodes continued to manage the momentum and eventually a layup by senior Reid Hamilton (Birmingham, AL) gave the Lynx their largest lead of the game at 11 points with 14 minutes remaining in the game. A 11-2 Oglethorpe run made the score 41-39 with 10:28 left but a back to back layups from Hamilton and Andrew Galow (Oswego, IL)pushed the lead back to six. Oglethorpe scored six straight to tie the score at 45 with 7 minutes to go but Rhodes responded with a 5-0 run. Rhodes lead 50-45 before Oglethorpe scored 11 of the final sixteen points to finish the game and escape with a hard fought 61-55 victory.
On the game, Cunningham led the Lynx with 16 points. Galow and Hamilton each scored 10. Kilpatrick grabbed 10 rebounds and Hamilton led the Lynx with 12 giving him a double-double on the night. Rhodes defense was solid all night holding Oglethorpe to just 33% shooting and they out rebounded the Petrels 40-30. Rhodes struggled from the three point line though, shooting only 10% in the contest. Rhodes also only attempted 4 free throws compared to the 14 of 18 the Petrels were able to collect.
Rhodes will be back in action with another SCAC contest this weekend. They will host the Panthers of Birmingham Southern College on Saturday, January 9th for their first home contest of 2010. Tipoff for the game is slated to begin at 5pm.
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