The Oglethorpe men's basketball team outscored the visiting Piedmont Lions by 16 points in the second half Saturday night at Dorough Field House, using that to sail to a 69-51 victory. The win served as an excellent response after the Stormy Petrels suffered a tough, double-overtime loss on Friday night and improved the team to 5-4 on the season.

After a tight first half, the Petrels led just 30-28 at the break. Oglethorpe expanded their lead to as many as six points early in the second period, but the visitors cut that down to a couple, 38-36, with just under 16 minutes to go. From there, though, the Petrels began to exert control over the game, pushing out to a big lead and never letting Piedmont up off the mat. They outscored the Lions 29-11 over a 12:45 stretch and built a 67-47 lead with 3:15 remaining. Oglethorpe was able to cruise to victory from there.

Oglethorpe began the game on a 7-2 run over the opening 2:30, but Piedmont responded with a 14-3 spurt of their own to open up a 16-10 edge with 15:20 left in the opening half. The home side turned that around and ran out to a nine-point lead with 5:30 left until halftime, outscoring the Lions 19-4 over 9:20. Piedmont responded and pulled the game close late in the period. They outscored the Petrels 8-0 over a four-minute stretch and made it 29-28 with under a minute to go in the half.

Senior center Tom Inungu tallied a double double on the night, leading the Petrels with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He went 9-for-14 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line while recording three blocks. Sophomore guard Lane Foster had an excellent game, as well, scoring 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field while leading all participants with six assists. Freshman guard Carlos Sone scored 10 points, passed out three assists and sank both of his free-throw attempts. 

The Petrels shot 45 percent from the field for the game while holding the Lions to just 34.3 percent. Oglethorpe also made 8 of 22 three-point attempts while holding Piedmont to 5 of 21. Despite a relatively even turnover battle, the Petrels outscored their opponent 17-4 off turnovers. 

"It was good to bounce back with a win after a heartbreaking game last night," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder. "I thought the guys responded well, and I particularly liked the way we started the second half."

The Petrels will now break for a few days for exams before reconvening mid-week to get ready for their next game, a road battle with Covenant in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. After that, they'll get set to host the Comfort Inn and Suites Holiday Classic Dec. 29 and 30, where they'll face Ozarks (Arkansas) and Bridgewater (Virginia).