Memphis, Tennessee ~ Rhodes College Men's Basketball snapped their four game tonight with a hard fought 58-53 victory over Millsaps College. The victory was a icing on the cake as Rhodes College celebrated Coach Herb Hilgeman's milestone of becoming the All-Time SCAC victories leader. Coach Hilgeman eclipsed long time Hendrix College Coach Cliff Garrison's 463 victories on November 16 with its victory over Principia College. With tonight's victory, Coach Hilgeman stands at 471 career victories.
Rhodes fell behind early after Millsaps opened the game with a three pointer, but sophomore Kory Kilpatrick (Athens, GA)came right back for the Lynx nailing his own three pointer. Millsaps slowly built a seven point lead with 13 minutes left in the first half and eventually led by 10 at the 11 minute mark. Baskets by juniors Nathan Ollie (Memphis, TN) and Josh Arant (Charlotte, NC) cut the Majors lead to six. After a Majors basket pushed the lead back to eight, the Lynx responded with back to back three pointers by Kilpatrick cutting the deficit to two points with six and a half to play in the first half. Millsaps scored four straight points to give them a six point lead before a layup from freshman Andrew Galow (Oswego, IL) stopped the run and closed the gap to four. Both teams battled to close out the half with Millsaps outscoring Rhodes 7-5 and headed into halftime with a 6 point lead at 30-24.
Rhodes opened the second half scoring with a bucket from senior Reid Hamilton (Birmingham, AL) to trim the deficit to four points. After a Millsaps basket pushed the lead back to six, Rhodes got four straight points from senior Larry Cunningham, JR. (St. Charles, MO) to pull with two points. Two Majors free throws pushed the lead back to four points but Arant scored on a layup and Galow knocked in a jumper to tie the score at 34. Millsaps took the lead back after a three pointer but Rhodes responded with Ollie's two free throws. Millsaps pushed the lead to six with just under 10 minutes remaining but Rhodes scored the next four points to close the gap to two. Rhodes would tie the game at 46 a few minutes later. After Millsaps retook the lead a nice back door reverse layup from Ollie tied the game at 48. Rhodes took the lead on its next possession after Ollie connected on two of his eight second half free throws. A Cunningham layup gave the Lynx a four point lead with 3:19 left to play and the Lynx closed out the game making six of eight from the free throw line the final two minutes.
On the game the Lynx placed three players in double digits. Cunningham, Hamilton and Ollie all scored 12 for the Lynx. Kilpatrick had a game high eight rebounds to go along with his nine points. Galow scored eight points, Arant scored four and senior Andyshea Saberioon (Houston, TX) scored one to finish out the scoring for Rhodes. Saberioon, Hamilton and Ollie all dished out three assists for the Lynx.
BOX SCORE
Rhodes will be back in action on Sunday afternoon in Mallory Gymnasium, as they play host to Hendrix College. Tipoff is scheduled for 3pm.
