MEMPHIS - Junior guard Anesu Nyawata scored 22 points on Wednesday evening as the Rhodes College men's basketball team earned their Southern Athletic Association win of the season, defeating Hendrix 112-97 at Mallory Gymnasium.

In the conference opener for both teams, Rhodes moves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the SAA with the win while Hendrix drops to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the SAA.

The Lynx finished 36 of 78 from the field (46%) while shooting a red hot 21 of 42 from behind the arch (50%). The Lynx stepped up at the free throw line, going 19 of 24 at the charity stripe (79%). Rhodes forced 27 Warriors turnovers despite Hendrix shooting 56% from the field.

Rhodes started the game cold, but were able to take an early 14-8 lead. However, Hendrix would take advantage of the early woes and storm back to take a 17-16 lead at the 10:48 mark.

The final 10 minutes of the second half was a different story as Rhodes began to heat up beginning with back-to-back 3-points from Nyawata and senior Andrew Lowrie. Leading 24-22, Rhodes went on an 11-2 run Anesu scored four points while senior Brennan Sullivan and freshman Preston Giroux connected on 3-pointers.

Hendrix responded with a 9-0 run to make it a 35-33, but Rhodes would use the final 4:11 of the first half to go on a 16-3 run as they hit four 3-pointers, all coming from four different Lynx. Senior Tyler Gee, sophomore Daniel Darst, and freshman Owen Galvin helped build the lead to 10 while layup from sophomore Price Dalton and freshman Kendrick Ashby followed by a three with less than five seconds remaining from Lowrie gave Rhodes a 51-36 lead at the break.

The Warriors tried to make a move in the second half, but Nyawata helped slam the door on the Warriors, scoring 15 points in the second half as he was tremendous in driving the lane and forcing fouls.

Rhodes used an 8-0 run early in the second half to push their lead out to as many as 22.

Though Hendrix tried to make runs, getting the score down to as close as 15, Rhodes used 11 3-pointer in the second half to keep a nice cushion and push the lead back out to 20. Darst, Galvin, and freshman Nick de Feria all connected on a pair of 3's in the second half.

At the end of the game, Rhodes had played 16 players on Wednesday night and all 16 players got in the scoring column as the Lynx took home a 112-97 win over their conference foe.

Nyawata finished 5 of 7 from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line. He added a pair of steals and four rebounds. Darst scored 14 on 5 of 8 shooting including four 3's and four assists while Lowrie scored 11 on a perfect 3 of 3 from deep.

Gee and junior Ian Harrison came away with three steals while Giroux led the team in rebounds with six to go with five points and two steals. Senior J.J. Weir had seven assists while freshman Mitch Weatherford had six to go with seven points.

Hank Aldous led Hendrix with 27 points while Preston Smith had 18. Gearen Littlefield had 15 while Travis Garrett scored 11.

Rhodes will hit the road for the first time this season as they head to St. Louis for the 33rd Annual Lopata Classic hosted by Washington University. The Classic features No. 9 WashU, No. 23 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and UC-Santa Cruz. The Lynx will battle the Blugolds on Friday evening at 6 Pm and will take on the winner of the Bears and Banana Slugs.