ROME, Ga.—The Oglethorpe men's basketball team held a 16-point first-half lead but a furious rally from Rhodes saw the Stormy Petrels end their season in the semifinals of the Southern Athletic Association tournament Saturday evening. Held on the campus of Berry, Oglethorpe was poised to earn its third trip to the championship game in the last four years but came up short 68-61.

Perry Robinson led Oglethorpe with 19 points and nine rebounds. Malachi Dooley followed with 12 points and three rebounds while five other Petrels were in the scoring column.

Oglethorpe led 34-18 with three minutes to go in the first half before an 8-0 Rhodes run over the next two and a half minutes helped the Lynx cut the deficit in half. Rhodes then carried that momentum into the early minutes of the second half with a 14-1 run where they tied the game with a steal and breakaway layup then took the lead on a 3-pointer three minutes later.

Mason Kemp got the game back to a tie at the 11-minute mark on an old-fashioned 3-point play that made it 47-47, but Rhodes answered with a 9-0 run that put the game away.

"It was a tale of two halves," said Head Coach Philip Ponder. "We played great in the first half, but then only scored 10 points in the first 14 minutes of the second half. We couldn't make a shot and we had some bad turnovers that led to run outs for them. We were 20 minutes away from playing for a championship, but you have to play 40. Despite the loss tonight, this team took some positive steps forward from last year, and we need to continue that forward movement next season."

Game Notes

• After Oglethorpe's double-digit scorers, Jordan James scored eight, then Uba Ezigbo and Jackson Kemp both scored seven.
• J. Kemp added nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
• James added five rebounds and an assist.
• Oglethorpe entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and advanced to the semifinal by way of knocking out sixth-seeded Millsaps last weekend at home.