MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - Men's Basketball was outlasted at home in Wednesday's contest by Belhaven by a final score of 90-70.
Canon Armstead tied his career-high of 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and he also added four rebounds to lead the Vikings. Grant Stubbs was solid as well for the Berry offense with 12 points and 4 rebounds, while also producing defensively with 2 steals and a block.
The Vikings got off to a strong start, as they raced out to an 11-5 lead, courtesy of buckets from Armstead and Stubbs. Belhaven quickly responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take a 14-11 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half. The offense found it's rhythm again for Berry with Cameron Pope dishing the basketball to Isaac Plavich, who lit up the nylon with a three-point bucket to give Berry a 17-14 lead. Just a few possessions later, Bennett Frazer went to work in the paint and finished a layup off a Drew Winegarden steal. Plavich continued to make an impact, as he swindled a Belhaven ballhandler and found Frazer under the basket for another layup to push their lead to 7, 21-14. Belhaven then answered with back-to-back three pointers to stay within striking distance with 12 minutes to play in the half.
The two teams jabbed back and forth until a Belhaven run-out steal and dunk led to a swing in momentum, in favor of the visitors. With a 25-33 deficit looming over the Vikings with 8 minutes left in the first half, Grant Stubbs answered the bell with a triple off a pass from Will Smith. Belhaven kept the Vikings at bay in the following three minutes, until Pope knocked in three straight points to bring the Vikings back within 4 with 3:50 remaining in the half. The Blazers then responded in a big way to take a 49-36 advantage over the Vikings into halftime.
Berry came out of the second half on fire though, starting off with a Canon Armstead 3 off a Drew Winegarden dish. Moments later, Armstead joined the party, hitting eight straight points, including a miraculous four-point play, to cut the Blazer lead to 5 with 15 and a half minutes left in the second half. Moments later, a Bennett Frazer spinning hook shot cut the deficit to just two with 13:43 to play. As the two teams dueled, Khamani Paxton drilled a three off a Cam Pope assist to cut the deficit back to two with 11 minutes left.
At that point, Belhaven took firm control with a balance of hot three-point shooting and frequent second chance opportunities/points off turnovers. An 8-0 run after the Paxton three would prove too much to overcome, as the Vikings were not able to battle their way back into the game, falling 90-70.
Berry is back in action on the road against Spalding University on December 29 at 5 PM EST.
