MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – Brewton-Parker men’s basketball hosted Blue Mountain (Miss.) on Saturday afternoon in Gillis Gymnasium, resuming SSAC action.  

The Barons (3-1, 2-0 SSAC) jump out to a 2-0 start in conference play after battling against the Toppers (4-2, 0-2 SSAC) in a 64-59 victory.

How It Happened | 1st Half 

Blue Mountain opened the scoring with a bucket at the 19:36 mark before a pair of successful free-throws from Lance Smith leveled the score moments later. 

Several minutes passed with unsuccessful trips down the floor for both the Toppers and Barons. 

BPC took control of the lead with Jordan Johnson snagging a steal to speed down the court for a fastbreak bucket at the 15:35 mark. 

Both teams began sharing the lead, answering with just about every shot made. 

After going down by three points with four minutes to play, Brewton-Parker answered with an 8-0 run highlighted by Kenny Colwell’s pair of treys to lead 25-20. 

The Toppers closed out the half with two free throws to move the score to 25-22 in favor of the Barons. 

Smith and Colwell led the half with six points each followed by Chance Hatcher’s 2-of-2 performance from the field for four points. 

Brewton-Parker dominated off the glass, holding a 24-15 edge over Blue Mountain with Damarcus Johnson Jr. leading the way with seven boards. 

How It Happened | 2nd Half 

The Barons came out of the break with a three-pointer from Colwell to lead by six points. 

Blue Mountain took advantage of several missed opportunities from BPC and utilized back-to-back scores from deep to equalize the game, 28-28 with 16:45 remaining. 

Brewton-Parker reclaimed the lead on converted free throws from Smith, but the Toppers responded with a pair of their own scores from the charity stripe to level the game. 

The Barons took advantage of a foul and a technical foul from the Toppers as Smith boosted BPC’s lead to four points after converting four-straight shots from the foul line. 

After three more free throws from the Barons and a fastbreak score from Smith, Brewton-Parker led Blue Mountain 39-30 with 12:54 remaining. 

BMCU managed to pull the game back to a two-possession score with 10:55 left on the clock before knocking the deficit down to just three points moments later. 

The Toppers eventually chipped the deficit away to just one point with a big three at the 8:13 mark and battled to level the score nearly two minutes later to make the score, 46-46. 

Blue Mountain finally cracked through to capture the lead with a trey and a pair of free throws to lead 51-47 with less than five minutes remaining. 

A big three-pointer from Smith at the 4:02 mark sparked a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to give BPC a 59-53 lead. 

Back-to-back buckets from BMCU brought the deficit down to just two points. 

Brewton-Parker took advantage of desperation from Blue Mountain, scoring five final points from the foul line to secure the 64-59 win.  

Inside The Statistics 

BPC shot for 30.4% (17-of-56) from the field, 19.2% (5-of-26) from three, and 78.2% (25-of-32) from the foul line. 

Smith led the way with 21 points, five rebounds, and four steals. He went 12-of-14 from the foul line and 4-of-8 from the field. 

Colwell netted 11 points followed by Hatcher shooting 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe for 10 points. 

Johnson Jr. led the rebounding efforts with nine followed by Grant Sanders with eight. 

Off the glass, Brewton-Parker held a convincing 45-31 edge. 

Defensively, the Barons gathered 11 steals with BMCU giving away 19 turnovers. 

Other Notables 

BPC produced 16 points off turnovers and scored 22 second-chance points. 

The bench produced 24 points for the Barons. 

Saturday’s win marks the Barons’ first 2-0 start to SSAC play since the 2015-16 season. 

Next Up 

Brewton-Parker travels to Daytona Beach, Florida to take on NCAA DII Embry-Riddle (Fla.) for an exhibition contest at 7 p.m. ET. (Courtesy of BPC)