The Oglethorpe men's basketball team fell behind early to in-state opponent LaGrange at the Maryville Classic in Maryville, Tennessee, Saturday afternoon and was never able to claw their way back into the game, falling to the Panthers 77-56. A 51-36 LaGrange rebounding edge, including a 24-10 advantage on the offensive glass, loomed large over the course of the game. The result dropped the Stormy Petrels to 1-3 on the young season.

The Petrels got 12 points each from junior guard Connor Smith and sophomore forward Will Perry, with Perry hitting 2-of-5 from distance and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line while grabbing six rebounds, passing out four assists, and recording three steals. Smith went 3-of-8 from three-point range and came up with a couple of steals himself. Sophomore guard Justin Edwards dished out a team-high five assists while scoring nine points. Junior center Connor Sigrist led all players with three blocks on the day.

With the score tied 6-6 in the early-going, the Petrels saw LaGrange go on a 16-6 run over the next five minutes to pull out to a 22-12 lead with 11:46 left in the half. Another brief Panthers run got their advantage up to 40-25 with 5:14 left and the Petrels found themselves behind the eight-ball for much of the remainder of the contest. LaGrange pushed out to a 16-point lead just before halftime and maintained that advantage, 48-32, at the break.

The Petrels kept the margin lower in the second half, but LaGrange was able to maintain their edge and cruise to the win. After the Panthers pushed out to a 24-point lead early in the second half, the Petrels came back with a 12-4 run to cut the LaGrange lead to 64-48 with 10:50 to go. Oglethorpe responded again after a couple of baskets by LaGrange, putting together consecutive baskets of their own to get to within 15 points, 67-52, with 8:22 remaining. The Petrels would get no closer, however, and the Panthers saw the game out by outscoring Oglethorpe 8-2 over the final 7:40 for the 21-point win.

The Petrels shot 33 percent from the field in comparison to LaGrange's 38 percent, and sunk just 30 percent of their three-pointers to the Panthers' 47 percent. The LaGrange rebounding edge hurt the Petrels, allowing the Panthers to outscore Oglethorpe 24-4 in second-chance points. 

"We are struggling right now," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We have a lot of areas in which we need to improve, but it has to start with defense and rebounding. If you can defend and rebound, you can be in every game. We'll keep working to improve."

The Petrels will be back in action from the Maryville Classic Sunday at 4 p.m., when they take on hosts Maryville to round out Thanksgiving weekend. After that, they'll travel to Mount Berry, Georgia, to take on Berry Friday night in their first SAA game of the season.