Memphis, Tennessee ~ The Rhodes Men’s Basketball team sent off its five seniors out in style on Senior Night with a hard fought 60-44 victory over Sewanee. The five seniors, Larry Cunningham, JR. (St. Charles, MO), Chris Eberle (Cincinnati, OH), Reid Hamilton (Birmingham, AL), Andyshea Saberioon (Houston, TX) and Andrew Sillyman (Cordova, TN), accounted for 36 of the Lynx 60 points.
The first half started very slow for the Lynx as they had trouble on the offensive of the ball, scoring only 22 points in the half. Senior Andyshea Saberioon (Houston, TX) started the Lynx scoring with a jump shot that pulled the Lynx to within a point after a minute gone by. Sewanee built an early six point lead as the Lynx managed to only score six points through the first eight minutes of the half. Junior Josh Arant (Charlotte, NC) connected on one of two free throws to pull the Lynx within four. A Sewanee bucket pushed the lead back to six. After a two minute scoreless span, senior Reid Hamilton (Birmingham, AL) drained a three pointer close the gap to 9-12 at the nine minute mark. The Tigers would increase their lead to eight points over the next three and a half minutes and led 21-13 before two Kory Kilpatrick (Athens, GA)) pulled the Lynx with six points. Rhodes closed out the first half with a 7-3 run, capped off with a drive and dish from Andrew Galow (Oswego, IL) to Larry Cunningham, JR. (St. Charles, MO), and trailed by two at halftime, 22-24.
Galow opened up the second half knocking down a three pointer on the Lynx first possession giving Rhodes a lead they never relinquished. The Lynx scored the first 13 points of the half and had a 35-24 lead before Sewanee scored its first basket of the half. Rhodes kept a double digit lead until back to back buckets by Sewanee pulled the Tigers to within seven, but a Kilpatrick layup pushed the lead back to nine. After a defensive stop, Hamilton scored in the post to give the Lynx an 11 point lead with just under 10 minutes to play. Rhodes went on a 9-1 run from the six minute mark till the 3:52 mark and increased their lead to 15 points. Sewanee closed the gap to 11with just over a minute left to play, but four free throws by Galow and a free throw line jumper by Reid Cates (Martin, TN) pushed the lead to 18. A final Tiger bucket made the score 60-44 before the Lynx ran out the clock.
On the night, seniors Hamilton and Saberioon led all scorers with 15 points. Galow chipped in nine points and six rebounds as well as five assists. Hamilton led all rebounders with a game high nine rebounds. The Lynx defense was solid all night allowing Sewanee to shoot just 28% from the field on the game and forced 13 Tiger turnovers.
BOX SCORE
Rhodes will be back in action on Sunday afternoon as they are set to host SCAC foe Oglethorpe University with a 3pm tipoff.