JACKSON, Miss. -- It was a matchup of first place teams in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) on Friday night when the Vikings of Berry College traveled to the Hangar Dome to take on the Majors. 

Berry led 46-40 at halftime, and shot nearly 52% from the field in the second half to come away with the 90-84 win.

The Vikings improved their record to 9-3 overall, and are tied with Centre at 2-0 in the league. Millsaps falls to 9-4 and 1-1 in the SAA. 

How It Happened
The better part of the first half was back and forth with neither team leading by more than 5 points until the Vikings pulled ahead by 10 on a layup that capped off a 15-2 run late in the half.

Earlier, the Majors had captured their largest lead of the half when Michael Sullivan made good on a pair of free throws to put Millsaps up 33-30 with 5:09 left to play before halftime. 

After the Vikings went on their run it was Sullivan who got the Majors back in it with 6 straight points in the final minute of the period to cut the Berry lead down to 46-40 at the break. 

In what was almost a mirror image of Tuesday's win over Birmingham-Southern, the Millsaps defense sparked a quick run to start the second half. 

Ryan McLaurin started the half by converting a layup and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to pull the Majors to within 1 at 46-45. After the Vikings responded with a bucket, Cameron Carvelli drilled a three and Justin Van Pelt scored from inside the paint to give Millsaps a 50-48 lead less than 4 minutes into the half.  

The Majors' lead got as large as 4 when Sullivan corralled an offense rebound and scored on the putback to put Millsaps up 52-48 with 15:36 left to play, but from that point Berry started to take control of the game. The Vikings stretched their lead out to their largest of the night, 17 points, on a three with just under 7 minutes to play, but at that point the Majors started to chip away. 

Millsaps got it down to 10 points on a Sullivan three with 2:21 still to play, but unfortunately down the stretch Berry was able to answer nearly every point with one of their own to hold off the comeback. The Majors did get a pair of layups from Drew Burnett and Saxton Becker with less than 15 seconds left, but just simply ran out of time, as Berry held on for the 90-84 win. 

Key Contributors
Sullivan led all scorers with a season-high 26 points, including going 12-14 from the free throw line. He also finished two rebounds shy of a double-double, leading Millsaps with 8. Carvelli ended the game with 14 points, and also led the Majors with 4 assists.   

What's Next?
Millsaps wraps up this homestand with another SAA matchup, this time against Oglethorpe. The Majors and Stormy Petrels, who are both tied at 1-1 in conference play, are scheduled to tip off in the Hangar Dome at 3:00pm Sunday afternoon.