ATLANTA – The Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels defeated the Hendrix Warriors 62-60 after a tense second half Friday night, remaining undefeated in Southern Athletic Association play so far. Uba Ezigbo came up with a big steal with one minute left before Mason Kemp had the game-winning basket with under 40 seconds left, both helping seal the win.

"That was a grind-it-out win tonight," said Head Coach Philip Ponder after the win. "It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it. Our defense kept us in the game when we were struggling to score, but we made some clutch shots and clutch free throws late and got a couple of key stops to pull out the win."

Ezigbo led with a season high of 19 points, followed by Perry Robinson with a double-double featuring 15 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan James followed with 12 points. Ezigbo also recorded three steals, three assists, and six rebounds. Robinson tallied 11 rebounds and went 7-for-7 on free throws.

Hendrix opened the game with a layup, but Ezigbo quickly responded with a 3-pointer. Unfortunately, the warriors managed to regain a small lead, reaching 10-7 before a dead period in scoring. After three minutes of back-and-forth with no results, two good free throws from James got the ball rolling again. A subsequent jumper from Dylan Pumpian put Oglethorpe back in the lead, which would stick for the rest of the first period. Hendrix kept pace with Oglethorpe rather well, but the Petrels headed into halftime ahead 39-31.

The Warriors were the first to score once again, creeping in on the Petrels. Hendrix managed to gain small leads several times throughout the period, but ultimately could not sustain, and even had victory at their fingertips. With just over a minute remaining, the warriors led 60-58. Two good free throws from Ezigbo tied things up, and overtime seemed to be on the docket. But in the final minute in a tie game with Hendrix in possession, Ezigbo came up with a big steal, then M. Kemp swooped in with the game-winning layup.

Game Notes

• As a team, the Petrels went 20-for-22 from the free throw line for a 90.9% free-throw percentage.
• Oglethorpe now stands atop the Southern Athletic Association as the only team with a clean conference record.  
• The Petrels are now ranked second in the SAA for free-throw percentage, with a .734 average.
• Robinson is currently ranked second in the SAA for scoring. 
• Oglethorpe's record against Hendrix is now 39-18 since 1993. 
• The Petrels have won four of the last five games against the Warriors.

Up Next 

Conference play will continue for the Petrels as Oglethorpe hosts Rhodes on Sunday, Jan. 7, at 3 p.m. After that, the next two games will be on the road at Sewanee and Centre. 

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