The Oglethorpe men's basketball team got their season underway in excellent fashion Friday evening at Dorough Field House, routing the visiting Centre Colonels 83-53 in a game they led virtually the whole way. The Stormy Petrels got double-figure points from senior guard Dimetri Chambers, junior guard Ryan Jenei and sophomore guard Uba Ezigbo en route to the victory.

In his first career start, Ezigbo scored 15 points on 7-of-10 from the field while tying for the team lead with six rebounds. Chambers scored 19 points while making five steals and passing out four assists. Jenei poured in 11 points on 4-of-8 from the field overall and 3-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Petrels sank 11 three-pointers in all, shooting 35.5 percent from beyond the arc. They shot 49.3 percent for the game overall, and outscored Centre 21-5 off turnovers and 10-0 on the fast break. They also gathered 20 assists on the evening.

Meanwhile, they held the Colonels to 36.5 percent shooting from the field and a paltry 3-of-19 from beyond the perimeter. 

After keeping Centre at arm's length while outscoring them 38-24 in the first half, the Petrels exploded to start the second half. They embarked on a 13-4 run over the opening 3:40 of the period, capped by five points off turnovers as Oglethorpe turned takeaways into a layup from senior guard Lane Foster and a 3-point dagger from Chambers at the 16:03 mark. The latter play gave the home side a 51-28 advantage. 

The Colonels fought back from there, going on a 7-0 run over 1:35 to pull to within 16 points, 55-39, at the 11:39 mark. The visitors got no closer, however. Oglethorpe quickly pushed the lead back to 20, then matched their opponent basket for basket for an eight-minute stretch to put the game away.

Centre enjoyed their only two leads of the game in the opening two minutes of play. From there, Oglethorpe went on a 13-4 run to push out to a 16-9 lead with 11:19 left in the opening half. A subsequent 9-2 stretch countered a brief Centre run, and they slowly pulled out to a 14-point lead at halftime.

"After so much time away, we were just happy to be back on the court playing," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder, "but it was definitely a good start. I thought we did a good job defensively, and I really liked the pace we played with. We have a quick turnaround, which we are going to have to get used to this year, so we hope to come back out tomorrow with the same intensity." 

Ponder was referencing this year's unique scheduling format, brought on by COVID-19 protocols. Teams will play both games of their conference double round-robin back-to-back on consecutive days. Therefore, the Petrels and Colonels will get right back to action with their final regular-season game against each other Saturday at 1 p.m. from Dorough Field House.