Hawks Stall At Belhaven

JACKSON, Miss.- Looking to avenge their 4-point loss at home, Huntingdon men's basketball traveled to Jackson to close their regular season series with Belhaven University. The Hawks struggled offensively against the conference front-runner, shooting 35% from the field in a 73-64 loss to the Blazers.

First Half

• The Blazers came out of the gates strong, taking a 6-2 lead through the opening minute and-a-half. Huntingdon responded however, with Martise Jackson sinking his first triple of the night just a minute later to bring the score to 6-5.
• Belhaven answered with a 12-0 run in the following 5 minutes to raise their advantage to 18-5 with 12 minutes remaining in the half
• Trailing 27-14 with a little less than 9 minutes to go in the half, BJ Brown led the Hawks on a 8-2 scoring run that cut the Blazers lead to 29-21 with 6:30 to go until halftime
• After trading baskets in the final stages of the half, Nate Johns put in a layup inside of the final minute to bring Huntingdon's halftime deficit to 37-30

Second Half

• After Huntingdon started the half with baskets from Jaylen Washington and Martise Jackson, the Blazers kept pace, drilling a three pointer at the 15:56 mark to raise their lead back to 9, 44-35
• With 13:49 remaining, the Blazers brought their advantage back to double-digits, 48-37, before raising it as high as 50-37 by the 11:16 mark
• BJ Brown hit a shot from deep on the following possession to momentarily stop the bleeding, but steady shooting kept the Blazers ahead, as Belhaven entered the final 8 minutes with a 57-40 lead
• The Hawks continued to battle, piecing together a 10-0 run primarily led by Nate Johns and Marcus Townsend to cut Belhaven's lead to 57-50 with 5 minutes to go
• The Blazers knocked down another shot from behind-the-arc with 3:34 remaining to boost their lead back to 63-53
• The Hawks fought late, getting to the charity stripe and converting multiple times in the final minutes, but their comeback efforts would fall short, dropping the conference matchup with the Blazers 73-64.

Key Notes

• Belhaven shot 48% from the field, holding the Hawks to just 35%
• The Hawks were outrebounded 38-33
• Huntingdon's bench provided a nice spark, outscoring that of Belhaven 24-7

Hawk Top Performers

• #2 Marcus Townsend- 11 points, 4 rebounds
• #4 BJ Brown- 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
• #11 Martise Jackson- 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals

The Hawks look to bounce back on February 15th at home against Covenant for Senior Night. Tip-off is set for 4:00 PM CT.