The Oglethorpe men's basketball team fought hard Friday night in a battle for second place in the SAA, but fell to the homestanding Hendrix Warriors 75-71 in Conway, Arkansas. The result dropped the team to 12-9 overall and 6-4 in SAA play, moving them into a third-place tie with Berry with four games to play in the regular season.

The Petrels held their last lead of 51-50 with 13 minutes to go in the game, but remained close for the rest of the contest with the Warriors leading by no more than 8 points. The home side led 71-63 with 3 minutes remaining in the contest, but the Petrels came storming back with an 8-2 run over a 2:40 stretch to cut the lead to 73-71 with 1:20 remaining. The Petrels missed a couple of chances to tie the game late, though, and the Warriors came through with a pair of free throws to clinch the game with 2 seconds left.

The two sides traded baskets for the early part of the second half, continuing the trend of what had been a back-and-forth game in the first half. The Petrels took a 12-6 lead at the 13:30 mark, but Hendrix came back with 12 consecutive points to make it 18-12 with 10:30 remaining until halftime. Oglethorpe came back to tie the game 20-20 with 7:45 left until the half, but the Warriors went on a 7-0 run to push back into the lead, 27-20. From there, the visitors went on an 11-2 run over 2:25 to take a 31-29 lead with 3:30 on the clock. The sides continued to trade baskets, and the Petrels led 40-39 at the break.

Sophomore guard Carlos Sone led the Petrels with 16 points on 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Freshman guard Justin Day came off the bench to score 17 points on 5-of-9 from the field overall, 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. 

The Warriors won the game on the glass, outrebounding the Petrels 49-33 overall and 15-5 on the offensive end. That led to an 18-3 advantage for the home team in second chance points. The Petrels outshot Hendrix 41.0-to-37.5 percent, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Warriors' extra chances on the offensive end.

The Petrels next travel to Memphis, Tennessee, where they'll take on Rhodes Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern.