JACKSON, Miss. -- After a long break in their schedule around the end of the semester and final exams, the Millsaps College men's basketball team was back in action on Tuesday evening as they traveled down Riverside Drive to take on Belhaven University. 

The Majors opened up the season with an eleven point win over the Blazers, and were looking to complete the season sweep tonight.

Unfortunately Belhaven got the best of Millsaps is this one as the Majors dropped their first game of the 2018-19 season by a final score of 70-63. 

How It Happened
The first half was back and forth early on with both teams trading baskets and struggling to find an edge. The Majors had a huge size advantage underneath the basket, and used that advantage to score all but 3 of their first half points inside the paint. 

The Blazers actually held a 29-22 lead late in the 1st half, but Millsaps closed the half on an 8-4 run to make it a 31-30 game at halftime.

Justin Van Pelt, Zachary Tullos and Matt Owens each had 4 points for the Majors in the first half.

Belhaven came out of the locker room and quickly pushed their lead out to double-digits by the first media timeout. From there, Millsaps struggled to get within striking distance for most of the half. Each time the Majors were able to come away with a score the Blazers had an answer on the other end. 

Michael Sullivan came alive on the offensive end in the final minutes. A three-pointer with 3:05 left to play got Millsaps to within two possessions at 60-54, and a few possessions later he made good on a layup to make it a 63-61 game. 

Unfortunately, Belhaven outscored the Majors 7-2 over the final 50 seconds to hand Millsaps their first loss of the season. 

Key Contributors
Sullivan led all scorers with 22 points on 8-14 shooting from the field. Tullos and Gillihan tied for the team-lead with 5 rebounds, and Tullos added 8 points for Millsaps. Free throw shooting really hurt the Majors in this one as they finished 6-17 from the charity stripe, while Belhaven converted on 68% of their free throws. 

What's Next? 
Millsaps, who now sits at 8-1 on the year, returns home on Thursday afternoon when they host Louisiana College in a game that is scheduled to tip off at 3:00pm.