MEMPHIS, Tenn. (January 7, 2022) - The hot-shooting Berry Vikings proved to be too much for the Rhodes Lynx, defeating the home team by a score of 77-56 at Mallory Gym on Friday night. The loss moves Rhodes to 5-7 (0-2 SAA) on the year while Berry improves to 10-2 (1-1 SAA). 

Arness Georgetown II deposited the first shot of the game for Rhodes, giving them an early lead. Berry's response was a 9-0 run, including threes from Michael Johnson and Owen Honroth. Jalen Essick added a turnaround jumper in the paint to cut the lead to 9-4, but Berry then went on another run, going up by as many as 23-4. It took nearly seven minutes for the Lynx to find another point when TJ Clayton knocked down a pair of free throws. At the end of the half, Rhodes fed the big man Georgetown down low where he was able to convert three times in the paint. Still, Berry took a commanding 44-20 lead into the half. The Vikings shot an impressive 60% from the floor in the first period, while Rhodes could only counter with 26.67%.

The two teams were much more evenly matched in the second half. Both started cold before the first basket was made two minutes into the half. Each team swapped buckets for a while before Rhodes had a small scoring spurt, thanks to a pair of makes from Essick and a three from Jeremiah Cook. Unfortunately, the Lynx struggled to make stops on defense, and Berry soon regained the lead that they had lost. After going ohfer from three-point range int eh first half, Rhodes added long-distance bombs from Cook, Elijah White, Hayden Lamey, and Clayton in the second half. Seth Aeschliman and David Fitzgerald scored the final five points of the game to make the final of 77-56 in favor of Berry 

Essick was the leading scorer with eleven to go with five rebounds. Georgetown chipped in eight. All fifteen Lynx saw time on the court, with eleven different players scoring. Honroth was the games' leading scorer with 16, including four makes from three for the Vikings. 

Rhodes will be back in action on Sunday when they take on the Ogelthorpe Stormy Petrels at Mallory Gymnasium at 3 pm.