JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps men's basketball team finished the weekend off strong by wearing down Hendrix College, 78-59 with a balanced effort in their regular-season home finale inside the Hangar Dome on Sunday.
Junior Caleb Kent led the Majors with 16 points. The guard tied a season-high five assists, while adding nine rebounds and one steal. The Madison, Miss., native shot 6-of-9 from the field.
Senior Drew Roth recorded 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Juniors Dakota Gasca (three rebounds, three steals), Mack Gorton (three rebounds, one steal) and RJ Vanbeber (one rebound, one steal) all registered eight points against the Warriors.
Sophomore Cameron Lumar recorded seven points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Senior Nicholas Ughovwa accumulated six points, three blocks, and six rebounds off the glass. He also added two steals while shooting 3-of-4 inside the paint.
Millsaps (5-18, 3-7 SAA) outscored Hendrix (2-21, 0-10 SAA) in every statistical category.
The Majors led 40-16 in points inside the paint, 17-4 in points off turnovers and 14-6 in fast break points. The Millsaps bench also surpassed the Warriors 33-31, while taking an 18-16 advantage in second chance points.
In the opening of the first half, Roth made a move past one defender and dunked on a second opponent to give the Majors their first points.
Minutes later, a Kent driving layup and hook shot inside the interior moved the Majors ahead 6-2.
With 12:29 remaining on the scoreboard, Gorton made his first three-pointer of the contest, helping the Majors to expand their lead by six.
Only 33 seconds later, Lumar stole the ball on defense leading to graduate TJ Hogan (five rebounds) finishing the rest at the rim for an easy layup to keep the Majors in front, 14-6.
With 8:44 to go in the first half, Kent made a free throw to extend the Majors' lead to 10 points at 19-9.
Leading 27-15, Roth would soon electrify the crowd with an alley-oop jam assisted by Lumar after Ughovwa forced a steal on defense.
The Warriors' offense continued to struggle holding onto the ball as Gasca collected his second consecutive steal of the matchup.
The West Monroe, La., product stripped the ball away from his foe and gave him room to score a fastbreak driving layup, leading to the Majors' last points of the first half.
Hendrix scored a hook shot before the buzzer to trail the Majors, 39-25 at halftime.
In the first half, Millsaps held the Warriors to 28.6 percent shooting from the field (8-of-28) while the Majors shot 45.9 percent (17-of-37) on the court.
Going into the second half, Millsaps kept the momentum as Gorton's three-pointer gave Millsaps a 25-point lead, 52-27.
Continuing to play well, Gorton knocked down his second consecutive shot with a layup to keep the Majors' scoring spree alive, helping the Majors take a 20-point advantage.
After Gorton's layup, VanBeber drained a three-pointer off the bench to extend Millsaps' edge to 57-34.
With 8:22 remaining, the Mobile, Ala., native made another three-pointer. A freshman Matheus Siqueira (four points, two assists, one block, one rebound) layup gave Millsaps their largest lead of the contest of 28 points at 68-40.
Later in the half, freshman Zac Cook got the fans off their feet with a slam dunk after stealing the ball on defense.
Sophomore Noah Babineaux then stepped off the bench in the final minutes of regulation to knock down a three-pointer to help the Majors defeat the Warriors, 78-59 on Sunday.
The Majors will be back in action on Friday against Oglethorpe in Atlanta, beginning at 7 p.m. CT. Live video and live stats will be available at gomajors.com.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the Millsaps College men's basketball program follow the Majors on X and Instagram, like Millsaps Majors Athletics on Facebook or visit gomajors.com.
Founded in Jackson, Mississippi in 1890, Millsaps College is a national liberal arts college dedicated to academic excellence, open inquiry and free expression, the exploration of faith to inform vocation and the innovative shaping of the social, economic and cultural progress of our region. Consistently ranked as one of the best values in higher education, Millsaps has been praised by Colleges That Change Lives, The Princeton Review, Forbes Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, The John Templeton Foundation, and The Fiske Guide to Colleges.
