Box Score
Box Score
The Sewanee men's basketball team found itself locked in a back and forth battle with visiting Oglethorpe University for most of the night Saturday night. The Petrels put together a 25-8 run late in the second half to seemingly put the game out of reach but the Tigers refused to quit, mounting a furious rally and coming as close as four points, before falling to the Petrels 74-67.
The two squads traded baskets for much of the first half. Oglethorpe's Todd Ward opened the scoring 11 seconds in with a lay up in the paint but Sewanee's Anvil Nelson (Brentwood, Tenn., Brentwood) quickly responded with a basket of his own to even the game at 2-2. Baskets were traded back and forth before Sewanee scored seven straight points to take a 14-8 lead five minutes in.
Oglethorpe responded with six straight to tie the game at 14-14. Sewanee answered with a lay up from Lewis Affronti (Virginia Beach, Va., Norfolk Academy) and a 3-pointer from Trent Williams, but the Petrels got a three of their own from Alec Pitts and a jumper from Andrew Steioff to keep the game tied. Branden Jovaag hit a three for the visitors to put Oglethorpe ahead 22-19 with 4:36 left in the first half. But teams were scoreless for over three minutes but Tyler Cerone finally knocked down a lay up to give the Petrels a five-point, 24-19 lead. Sewanee got a trey form Brett Bouldin (Crossville, Ala., Crossville) with 28 seconds left in the frame to make the halftime difference 24-22, Oglethorpe.
Sewanee wasted no time taking the lead in the second half, as Affronti knocked down a 3-pointer just nine seconds in, giving the Tigers a 25-24 lead. The Petrels responded with three straight baskets to quickly regain a 30-25 lead. Affronti answered again for the Tigers and continued to be on fire, knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the difference to one, 32-31.
Oglethorpe followed Affronti's third three of the half with baskets from Steioff and Ward, but Affronti hit yet another 3-pointer to make it 36-34 Oglethorpe five minutes into the second half. The two teams continued to trade baskets until Sam Martin (Ringgold, Ga., Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe) scored back-to-back baskets for the Tigers to even the ballgame at 40-40. Martin hit a third basket to five Sewanee a 42-40 lead at the 11:11 mark.
After Martin's trifecta, Oglethorpe used a huge run to pull away from the Tigers. Over the next eight minutes, the Petrels outscored Sewanee 25-8 to take a 65- 50 lead with just 1:56 remaining in the game. Bryan Beviacqua (Gulf Shores, Ala., Gulf Shores) was finally able to stem the Petrel attack when he hit a lay up in the paint for the Tigers but Jovaag followed with a free throw for the Petrels to make it 66-52.
After Jovaag's free throw, Trent Williams (Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Lawrence County High School) hit a 3-pointer and Valentino Bryant (Hendersonville, Tenn., Beech) hit two 3-pointers to suddenly cut the Petrel lead to just five, 66-61, with 55 seconds remaining. The Tigers were forced to foul though and Oglethorpe found itself in the double bonus. Alex Richey hit one of two from the line for the Petrels and Jovaag hit a pair to push the difference back to eight, 69-61.
Bryant had found his touch though, and he quickly knocked down another trey for the Tigers to cut the difference right back to five. Again forced to foul, Sewanee fouled Alec Pitts and he hit a pair to put the Petrels up 71-64. Bryant got the ball in his hands again, and yet again, knocked down a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left and put the Tigers within striking distance. Bryant's fifth 3-pointer of the night made it 71-64 and unfortunately for Sewanee, it was as close as they would get. Forced to continue fouling, Sewanee put Putts at the line twice more in the closing seconds. He knocked down three of four to give the Petrels a 74-67 victory.
Affronti and Bryant led the Tigers with 17 points each. Affronti finished the night 6 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the 3-point line. Bryant finished the night 6 of 19 from the field, including five 3-pointers, all of which came in the second half. Williams added nine points, while Brett Bouldin and Anvil Nelson each chipped in eight. Bryant led Sewanee with five rebounds.
Oglethorpe's Alec Pitts led all scorers with 18 points, while Steioff added 13 and Todd Ward finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
As a team, Sewanee finished the night 25 of 58 from the field (43.1%), 15 of 33 from the 3-point line (45.5%), and just 2 of 3 from the free throw line. Oglethorpe went 25 of 58 from the field (43.1%), 3 of 15 from the 3-point line (43.1%), and 21 of 29 from the free throw line (72.4%).
Oglethorpe held a 43-25 edge in rebounding. Sewanee turned the ball over 16 times to the Petrels' 10.
Sewanee finishes the regular season with a 9-16 overall record and a 3-13 SCAC record. With the win, Oglethorpe moves to 14-11 overall and 10-6 in the SCAC.
