ATLANTA – Oglethorpe suffered its first home loss of the season as the Stormy Petrels fell 85-78 to the Knights of Southern Virginia on Wednesday.

Perry Robinson led with 27 points and six rebounds. Malachi Dooley followed with 11 points, Jordan James with nine and Dylan Pumpian with eight. Pumpian also posted six rebounds and James had five.

"We let that one get away," said head coach Philip Ponder. "We had a lead, but we didn't execute down the stretch. We had some costly turnovers, took a couple of bad shots and had some empty possessions, but the story of the game is that we outshot them from the field, outshot them from 3-point range, and outshot them from the free-throw line."

Southern Virginia proved themselves a worthy opponent early on, with the score tying four times in the first half. The Knights began with a layup, then seconds later Robinson took the opportunity to make a pair of free throws. The Knights and the Petrels went tit for tat for most of the first half, with fast paced and high intensity play. After a late 14-3 run from Logan Turner, Robinson, Pumpian, and ending with a dunk from Dooley, Oglethorpe went into halftime trailing 47-43.

Energy dipped in the second period, but the Petrels maintained their lead as long as they could. Southern Virginia crept in by the eight-minute mark, hitting a 3-pointer to rise to 67-66. The Knights held this lead for the rest of the game, and although the Petrels came close, Oglethorpe fell 85-78.

"Southern Virginia got 13 more shots than we did because of turnovers and their offensive rebounds," Ponder continued. "It's tough to win when your opponent shoots 13 more times than you. That was a really good team and would have been a really good win for us, but we let it slip away. Hopefully we can get better from this. We have a quick turnaround and need to get a win heading into the holiday break."

Game Notes

• Oglethorpe's record against Southern Virginia is now 1-1, with their 1999 matchup resulting in a 98-85 win for the Petrels.
• Jackson Kemp made seven points and four rebounds.
• Logan Turner made seven points and two rebounds.
• Pumpian was named conference athlete of the week this past Monday.

Up Next

Oglethorpe will be home again on Friday, Dec. 20, at 2 p.m. against Earlham. Oglethorpe will also host the Jack Berkshire Classic at the end of the month.