The Oglethorpe men's basketball team fell to Sewanee, 80-69, Friday night in Sewanee, Tenn. The Stormy Petrels trailed for the majority of the game against a tough defensive conference opponent and found themselves down by 16 points in the second half, but they battled throughout the contest and were able to cut that lead down to a single point. However, Sewanee pulled away in the end to claim victory.

Despite the loss, several Petrels had solid performances. Sophomore guard Connor Smith had 17 points on the night and was 4-for-9 from the three-point line. Senior guard Alex Davis had a strong game for the Petrels, adding 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Sophomore guard Romello Bates also had 10 points, four rebounds and six assists for the team.

The Petrels struck first in the game with a basket by center Jordan Kinney putting the team ahead early. However, Sewanee answered quickly and stretched their lead to double digits with a 9-0 run, putting the Tigers ahead 19-12 over Oglethorpe. The Petrels managed to get within four points of the lead, but Sewanee added another hefty 11-2 run to give themselves, at that point, their largest lead of the game at 13 points with 5:45 left to play in the first. The Petrels fought to cut into the Sewanee lead before halftime and ended up trailing the Tigers 40-31 at the halftime break.

Oglethorpe's struggles continued in the second half, where the Tigers managed to extend their lead back out to 13 points after a 6-0 run with 16:41 left in the game. The Petrels refused to back down, however, creating a 16-4 run that would cut the Sewanee lead to just a single point with 4:44 left to play. The run shifted the momentum towards the Petrels, who were on the verge of taking the lead.  But the team was unable to get over the hump, as the Tigers were successful at the free-throw line in the final minutes while the Petrels struggled from the line. In addition, the Petrels had a few costly turnovers down the stretch, putting them further behind the eight-ball. Sewanee led 72-65 with 1:42 left to play after two successful free-throw attempts. The game was still within reach for Oglethorpe, but the Tigers used their strong defense to their advantage and kept the Petrels' scoring opportunities to a minimum in the final minutes to win, 80-69.

"We just couldn't get stops tonight," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "Sewanee played great, but we didn't defend them the way we needed to. That was a tough environment to play in tonight and I was proud of how we battled back. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole."

With the loss, the Petrels move to 14-4 on the season and 5-2 in conference play. They remain in second place, but now find themselves tied with Sewanee in that spot. First-place Rhodes suffered their first SAA loss of the year this evening, so the Petrels remain just a game back of the top spot in the league.

The team will wrap up their five-game road swing on Sunday, when they will travel to Danville, Ky., to challenge Centre at 3 p.m. The Colonels sit at 4-3 in SAA play, just a game back of the Petrels and Tigers in a fourth-place tie with Birmingham-Southern. Next weekend, the Petrels will finally return home to take on Millsaps and the aforementioned Panthers.