JACKSON – Against one of the nation's best, the Millsaps Men's Basketball Team led No. 12 Birmingham-Southern 37-34 with 11:46 remaining. However, the Panthers battled back and hit some huge shots to avoid the upset-minder Majors and escape Jackson with a 64-52 victory on Friday night.
 
BSC jumped out to a 10-4 lead before the Majors battled back to make it a 12-10 early on thanks to four points from freshman Sterling Thomas. The Panthers then began to make a move and pulled their lead out to 24-15 with 6:51 remaining in the half.

The determined Millsaps squad came back and brought the game within four with a minute left; however, BSC answered with a three-point play to take a 32-25 lead at halftime.
 
The Majors came out hot in the second half as they got out to a 12-2 run to take their first lead of the game and really get the home crowd into it. However, Birmingham was able to tie it at 39 shortly after and regain the lead with 9:46 remaining.
 
The Panthers got their lead as high as 11, before Millsaps made another big run after a three-point play by junior Nick Cortese to bring the game to 54-48 with 3:16 remaining.
 
The Panthers prevailed though, as they hit key shots and even bigger free throws to pull away and escape The Hangar Dome with a victory.
 
With the loss, Millsaps falls to 8-12 and 3-9 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Confernece.
 
Junior Taylor Meades led the way with 11 points despite struggling from the field while Thomas was terrific off the bench with 10 points. Senior Brian Merkel also added three steals.
 
The Majors return to action on Sunday afternoon as they take on the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels at 3 p.m. in The Hangar Dome.