MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Rhodes men's basketball team picked up a decisive win over Birmingham Southern College in the semi-final round of the Southern Athletic Association Conference tournament on Friday, 73-54.
 
The Lynx improve to 20-6 on the season while the Panthers finish their 2014-2015 campaign with a 16-11 record.
 
After some back-and-forth action to start the half, the Lynx were able to establish a six-point lead by the 11:03 mark, following a pair of layups from Drew Miller and a lay-in from JJ Weir for the 12-6 lead. The Panthers worked to claw their way back into the contest, and whittled the Rhodes lead to just one after a Ross Welch trey to make the count 14-13 with 6:32 to play.
 
Rhodes had an answer, and with the help of a 12-3 run down the stretch to post a 26-16 lead with just one minute left in the opening half. BSC was able to connect on their final shot of the half, to make the count 26-18 heading into the break.
 
At the midway mark, Brennan Sullivan led all scorers with 10 points, to go with three rebounds and two steals. Miller added eight for the Lynx, with two assists in the first half. For the Panthers, Welch led the way with 10 points, with only two other players producing points with Harrison Deneka adding six and Alex Avery netting two.
 
Rhodes fired a hot 50.0 percent from the field in the opening half of action, with only one made three. The Lynx held their counterparts to only 30.0 percent from the floor, while the Panthers shot 35.7 percent from beyond the arc.
 
In the second half the Panthers came out strong, chipping away at the established Lynx lead. After the Rhodes edge shrunk to as little as two-points, the Lynx fought back to a nine-point advantage after a Ryan Van Hoeck layup and a Miller trey for the 35-26 lead at the 14:13 mark.
 
Head coach Mike Degeorge's squad pushed the lead out to double-digits just three minutes later when Tyler Gee weaved through the paint for a layup to make the count 40-30. The Rhodes defense continued to pay dividends for the Lynx as their offense went to work on the other end. The Lynx worked out to their largest lead of 11 to that point after a Van Hoeck old-fashioned three point play gave Rhodes a 54-43 edge with 5:18 to play.
 
The Lynx kept control of the contest and cruised down the stretch to a 73-54 win.
 
Miller led the Lynx in scoring with 16 points, to go with five assists and one steal. Sullivan recorded 14 points with four rebounds and two steals. Livsey worked his way into double figures with 11 points, and picked up eight rebounds in the outing.
 
On the Panthers side, Avery netted 16 points and pulled in 10 rebounds for a double-double. Ross Welch netted 13 points with two assists and Larry Thomas finished with 11 points.
 
The Lynx advance to the championship game of the SAA Conference tournament to face the No. 6 seed Hendrix College at 1 p.m. on March 1.