The men's basketball team started their 2010-11 season in style on Monday night by easily outclassing LaGrange on Pinholster Court, 67-50.

After a slow start that saw Oglethorpe commit five turnovers in the game's first five minutes, Oglethorpe regrouped to close the half out on a decisive run that opened up a 21 point cushion at 38-17. The Petrels shot 48% from the field in the first half while holding the Panthers to only 21% (5 for 24) to open up the big working margin. The halftime buzzer sounded as Todd Ward dropped in two of 12 points on a stick-back that gave the Petrels their largest lead of the game.

Oglethorpe would eventually open up a 26 point second half lead before letting LaGrange claw their way back to within 12 at the three minute mark. Unlike last year when the Petrels missed 20 of 30 free throw attempts, this time Oglethorpe put the game away at the stripe by nailing 17 of 20 to keep the Panthers behind by double-digits throughout the contest.

With his 12 points Ward became only the 13th player in SCAC history to amass over 1,000 points and 600 rebounds for a career. For the night, Ward led all Petrels with 11 rebounds. The offensive star of the night was sophomore guard Alec Pitts who connected on 6 of 10 shots, including 4 of 6 from downtown, on his way to a game-high 18 points to go along with 5 assists and five boards. Sophomore Price Hamilton also buried two three-pointers on his way to posting a career high 8 points in the win.

For the game Oglethorpe outshot LaGrange 45.7% to 32.1% from the field and owned a 37-31 edge in rebounding. The Petrels also showed a knack for blocking shots by rejecting 9 Panther attempts on the night.

Oglethorpe is now 1-0 on the young seasion and will get set to face Emory in Decatur on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m.