ATLANTA, Ga. -- Prior to the kick off of Super Bowl XLVIII, the Millsaps College men's basketball team was also in Atlanta for a Southern Athletic Association (SAA) matchup with the Stormy Petrels of Oglethorpe University. 

Oglethorpe closed the opening half on a 5-0 run to take a 31-30 lead at halftime. They then outscored the Majors 31-27 in the second half to come away with the 62-57 win. 

The loss drops Millsaps to 10-12 overall and 2-9 in conference play. The Stormy Petrels improve to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in league play. 

How It Happened
The Majors opened up the scoring with a dunk from Justin Van Pelt on the assist from Buck Blanz, and when they went ahead 6-2 just a few minutes later it proved to be their largest lead of the game. 

The entire first half was played as close as possible with the lead changing hands several times, and neither team able to pull ahead by more than 5 points. 

Michael Sullivan nailed a three-pointer to put Millsaps up 30-26 with 3:41 left to play in the half, but the Stormy Petrels closed the half on a 5-0 run to carry a 31-30 lead to halftime. 

The first 15 minutes of the second half was a near carbon copy of the first. The Majors opened it up with a pair of free throws from Van Pelt to pull ahead 32-21, and from that point the lead changed hands several times. 

With 9:58 left to play Oglethorpe broke a 44-44 tie with a free throw. They never surrendered the lead for the remainder of the game. 

The Majors were in it until the very end however. They made it a 56-55 game on a layup from Cameron Carvelli with 1:46 to play, but Millsaps was never able to get a basket to put them into the lead. 

Oglethorpe was able to close out the game from the free throw line and pick up the 62-57 win.

Key Contributors
Sullivan led all scorers with 19 points on 7-14 shooting from the field, while Van Pelt finished with 12. James Turner led the Majors with 10 rebounds and was just 1 point shy of a double-double with 9. 

What's Next?
After spending the last two weekends away from Jackson, the Majors return home on February 8th for a conference game with Hendrix College. Friday night's tip off from the Hangar Dome is slated for 8:00pm.