ATLANTA – The Millsaps men's basketball team's season concluded following a 91-81 battle at Oglethorpe in the SAA Tournament First Round inside the Dorough Field House on Sunday.
No. 6 seed Millsaps (7-18, 6-8 SAA) and No. 3 seed Oglethorpe (11-14, 3-10 SAA) were evenly matched, but long-range shooting and rebounding proved to be the difference.
The Stormy Petrels outrebounded the Majors, 42-29 and sank 11 shots from distance (34.6 percent) competed to four (33.3 percent) by Millsaps.
The Majors shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) overall to better their opponents by four percent. Millsaps also controlled the paint, 44-28 and held a 44-18 advantage in bench points.
Sophomore
Dakota Gasca paced Millsaps offensively with 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Classmate
Rodney Phillips Jr. (15 points, three rebounds) and freshman
Cameron Lumar (13 points, four rebounds, one steal) both reached double figures in scoring.
Seniors
TJ Hogan (seven points, four rebounds, three steals, one assist) and
Aaron Ursin (eight points, two rebounds) as well as junior
Nicholas Ughovwa (seven points, two rebounds, two blocks, two steals) had strong games.
Oglethorpe opened the game with 5-0 and 14-3 leads before the first media timeout. However, Millsaps cut the deficit to three points following an Ughovwa steal and outlet pass to Lumar for the layup. Ursin added a basket to make it a 19-16 contest halfway through the first half.
A trey would give the hosts a 12-point lead eight minutes later. Phillips Jr. answered with a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 rally to end the half and trail, 38-33 at intermission.
The game remained close as Gasca connected on yet another 3-pointer to tie the contest at 61-61 with 8:30 to play. Oglethorpe raced back ahead by scoring eight straight points. Ursin later answered with a layup, but the Stormy Petrels grew their margin to 11 points following back-to-back treys.
Millsaps clawed the lead down to six multiple times, but Oglethorpe closed out the game 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final 65 seconds. The hosts held on for a 91-81 win.
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