MT. BERRY, Ga. — The Millsaps College men's basketball team fought hard against Southwestern University in the First Round of the 2026 Southern Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship, but fell 89-79 inside the Cage Center on Thursday.
No. 4 seed Millsaps (15-11) outscored the Pirates 45-17 in bench points, 12-6 in points-off turnovers and 18-15 in second-chance points.
No. 5 seed Southwestern (13-13) bettered the Majors, 24-17 in fast break points, 48-38 from points inside the paint to secure the win on Thursday.
The Pirates also shot an efficient 51.5 percent from the field (34-of-66 FG).
Despite the defeat, the Majors finish the season with the most wins and their first winning season since 2019-20.
Junior Jaxon Toney led the Majors in scoring 21 points, while recording six rebounds, three blocks, and one steal. Toney also shot 9-of-15 from the field.
Senior Dakota Gasca posted 17 points, three rebounds, and one assist while shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range.
Junior Colt Donley boasted 12 points against the Pirates while contesting two rebounds and one assist. Donley shot 4-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Classmate Davion James recorded a season-high 11 rebounds, while adding nine points, three assists, and one block against Southwestern.
The teams found early success offensively, with the Pirates holding a 13-6 advantage at the first media timeout.
Gasca cut the deficit to 15-10 with a nice sidestep, 3-pointer as teams traded baskets early on.
Southwestern expanded their lead by 14 points with 10:11 minutes to go in the opening half.
The margin expanded to 18 points at 38-20 with five minutes until intermission, forcing Millsaps to call a timeout.
Southwestern's hot start continued as the advantage stretched out to 22 points before the Majors cut the disadvantage down to 49-29 at halftime.
The Pirates outshot the Majors 56.8 percent (21-of-37 FG) to 28.1 percent (9-of-32 FG) in the opening 20 minutes.
However, Millsaps bettered Southwestern 6-2 in points off turnovers while holding their opponents 16-9 in bench points.
In the second half, Southwestern built their lead to 52-29 with an early three-pointer. With 18:23 minutes on the clock, junior Rodney Phillips Jr. would send back his opponent's shot with a block inside the paint.
Soon afterwards, Gasca and junior David Combest Jr. both found their way to the basket with nifty layups before going into a commercial timeout trailing behind 58-35.
Toney then cut the Majors' deficit down by 20 points following a jumper at 12:52 before knocking down a wide-open three moments afterwards.
The Memphis, Tenn., product would disrupt the Pirates offensive strategy with a block inside the paint prior to banking another jumper from the interior with 10:37 minutes remaining.
Trailing by 17 points, sophomore Jovanni Perez would step onto the court for the Majors and drive the ball down traffic with a euro-step as he looked to help his teammates make a comeback.
Millsaps not giving up, saw Combest Jr. sink a 3-pointer from downtown to cut the contest down to 69-55 with 7:22 to go in the second half.
Toney and Perez, both putting in strong effort on the floor, continued to help the Majors shorten their deficit to 13 points.
Gasca, showing great enthusiasm, made a 3-point shot for Millsaps, cutting the scoring down to 10 points before a Donley trey secured the final points for the Majors.
Millsaps battled back hard in the second half as team but was unable to stop Southwestern, falling 89-79 on Thursday.
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 and 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.
