The Oglethorpe University men's basketball team lost to Birmingham Southern in Alabama on Friday night, 78-61. Tied 33-33 at halftime, the Panthers scored the first 7 points of the second stanza and never looked back en route to the win.

After handing the Panthers their first lost of the season in an Oglethorpe win on Pinholster Court on New Year's Day, the Petrels looked poised to also give Birmingham-Southern their first home loss of the 2009-2010 season when the two teams headed into the break all knotted up. The first half was a back and forth affair that featured 10 lead changes and 8 ties and seemed to harbinger a classic second half battle.

For the Petrels, however, it was not to be. The Panthers scored on their first 6 possesions after intermission and built a 46-38 lead. After David Allison trimmed the margin to 58-51 on a driving lay-up with 8:09 to play the Panthers responded by scoring the next 10 points to build a 68-51 lead to seal Oglethorpe's fate.

The Petrels shot 41% (21-51) from the field, committed 17 turnovers against only 8 assists and were outrebounded 38-24 in their third straight road conference loss.

Wade Weldon led all Petrel scorers with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting and Todd Ward made 5 of 8 shots to post 12 points and 3 rebounds. Erik Strong added 10 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the foul line to round out the Petrels in double figures with.

Oglethorpe is now 11-9 on the season and a level 6-6 in SCAC play. The team travels to Memphis to face Rhodes this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.