JACKSON – With the Majors playing in front a big crowd for Senior Night, John Dunavant played spoiler as he hit a three pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining to top Millsaps 58-55 in heartbreaking fashion. With the loss, the Majors fall to 8-14 overall and 3-11 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The Majors jumped out to a 5-1 lead thanks to free throws from Millsaps' two seniors, Brian Merkel and Jeff Brown, and a low post jumper by sophomore Kyle Kinnear. After a Rhodes layup, junior Taylor Meades began to heat up as he stroked his first three, hit a beautiful layup, and followed up with another three to put Millsaps up 13-3.
Rhodes fought back to get the score down to 16-11 before Millsaps went on an 8-0 run thanks to six points from freshman Sterling Thomas. Rhodes cut the lead down to five going into the break thanks to clutch shooting from Andrew Galow and Theo Hartwell.
Millsaps struggled to begin the second half as they could not buy a basket until Thomas ended the drought at the 14:14 mark in the second half. However, great defense by Millsaps kept them in the lead, 35-30, at that point.
Meades got hot again as he nailed two straight from downtown to give Millsaps a 41-34 lead. The Majors got their lead to 47-35 with 9:21 remaining after Kinnear fought for two offensive rebounds before finally getting the layup to fall.
Rhodes responded with five quick points, but Thomas came through in the clutch again with a free throw and another huge layup to put the Majors back up 50-40.
The Lynx took the next five minutes to go on a 10-0 run to tie the game up for the first time since the beginning of the game. However, Meades responded with a huge three, his fifth of the night, to put Millsaps back up three. Rhodes responded as Kory Kilpatrick buried a three of his own to tie it again.
With 11 seconds up, junior Nick Cortese hit a beautiful fall away jumper in the paint to put the Majors up 55-53. The Lynx responded against with a Hartwell layup to tie it again.
Millsaps then turned the ball over to give Rhodes a shot at the game with 1.8 seconds remaining and Dunavant struck to give Rhodes the win.
Meades led the way for Millsaps with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting while Cortese added 12. Thomas was terrific off the bench with 11 points. Merkel played great as a distributor in his final home game as he had career high nine assists in the game. Hartwell, Kilpatrick, and Galow all had 13 points for the Lynx.
The Majors return to action on Friday as they travel to Danville, Kentucky to take on the Centre Colonels. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone.
