The fourth-seeded Oglethorpe men's basketball team saw its season come to a close Friday afternoon in Homewood, Alabama, as they fell 74-63 to fifth-seeded Berry in the SAA quarterfinals at the alternate tournament site at Homewood High School. The Stormy Petrels led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but were outscored 45-23 by the Vikings in the second. The Petrels conclude their season with an 11-15 record.

The Petrels were up 40-29 at the half, but Berry was quickly able to turn that around when they scored eight consecutive points to begin the period. It was a 10-point run in all after the Vikings scored the final basket of the first half, and they trailed just 40-37 with 17:11 remaining in the contest. Back-to-back baskets put the Petrels back up 44-37, but Berry began a new run at that point, outscoring their opponents 25-8 over the next 9:20 and building a 62-52 lead with 6:17 left in the contest. Oglethorpe pushed back into it with a mini-run, cutting the Viking lead back down to five points, 64-59, with 3:41 remaining. Berry ended the game on a 10-4 run, though, pulling out to the 74-63 victory.

The first half went pretty much the opposite way for the Petrels, as they outscored Berry 40-29 in the period. They immediately jumped out to an 11-0 lead over the game's first four minutes. The Vikings began to work their way back into the game, outscoring the Petrels 13-6 over the next 4:40 to cut their lead to 22-19 with 8:57 remaining. The Petrels pushed that advantage back out again, however, outscoring Berry 18-8 over the next seven minutes, building their largest lead of the game at 40-27 with 1:23 left in the half.

The Petrels got an excellent performance from sophomore guard Chris Lawrence, who scored 23 points on 7-of-10 from the field overall, 6-of-9 from 3-point range, and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He was named to the SAA All-Tournament Team for his efforts. Junior guard George Andino came in with 13 points on 3-of-7 from long distance and 3 assists while junior guard Connor Smith, who was named to the All-SAA First Team before the game began, scored 12 points on 4-of-8 from 3-point range, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Sophomore guard Justin Edwards led all participants with eight assists on the afternoon. 

As a team, Oglethorpe shot 46 percent from the field to Berry's 49 percent. They hit 50 percent of their 3-point attempts to Berry's 44 percent and were 4-of-9 at the free throw line. Berry outrebounded the Petrels 40-23 and outscored them 13-9 in second-chance points, 28-16 off the fastbreak, and 22-3 off the bench. The Petrels turned the ball over 17 times to 15 for Berry.

"We played very well in the first half and we executed our game plan," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "In the second half, though, we did not handle their pressure well and they took us completely out of their game plan. We held their two leading scorers to a combined 12 points, but we turned the ball over too much."

"This has been a crazy year," Ponder continued. "I've never been a part of a season where we lost so many players. Through it all, though, this team was a great group of guys to work with."