Jackson, MS — The Eagles struggled on the road, losing 105-77 to the Belhaven Blazers in Jackson, MS. Sophomore Dakota Pratt led the team offensively in the ball game with 16 points and 6 rebounds.

The Eagles could not find their rhythm early on in tonight's contest against the Belhaven Blazers. Despite two quick buckets by Marlon Gardner and Andrew Thomas, the Eagles would struggle to take care of the basketball. Six early turnover coupled with the hot shooting of Belhaven guard Isiah Brown would lead to an early 15-4 run by the Blazers. In spite of the early run, the Eagles were able to claw their way back into the contest.

Tyler Rose would answer with a three-pointer from the corner to cut the Eagles deficit to 7 points. Dakota Pratt and Ian Johnson would follow up Rose's three-point field goal with several easy layups, bringing the Eagles to within three points on the scoreboard. With 10 minutes remaining in the 1st half, Andrew Thomas would help the Eagles get back into the ballgame. Six points from the Eagles forward, helped the team knot the score at 27.

With just 5 minutes remaining in the half, Blazers guard Isiah Brown would again go on a tear. Three consecutive three-pointers by Brown helped the Blazers stretch the lead to 15 points in the waning minutes before halftime. An emphatic dunk by Alex Dickerman in the last 30 seconds of the half helped the Eagles cut the deficit to 15 points. At the half, the Eagles trailed the Blazers 48-33.

In the 1st half, the Eagles made 52% of their shots from the floor on 15 of 29 shooting. The Eagles outrebounded the Blazers 22-10 in the half, but turned the ball of 16 times. Andrew Thomas led the team in the 1st half with 8 points and 3 assists while Marlon Gardner added a team high 4 rebounds.

At the half, Head Coach Mark Goetsch was asked about his team's 1st half performance. He said, "We didn't play well at the beginning of the half. We failed to communicate as a team on the floor tonight. We struggled to act out the strategy that we had going into tonight's game."

A 22-10 run to start the 2^nd half, helped the Blazers widen their lead to 26 with 15 minutes remaining in the ball game. The Blazers would stretch their lead to as many as 35 points in the 2nd half of the game behind a near school record three-point shooting performance. In the contest, the Blazers shot 19-44 (44%) from behind the three-point line, just one three-pointer shy of a school record.

The Eagles would go on to cut the deficit to as few as 25 points in the waning moments of the game, but the Blazers would prove to be too much for the Eagles. A season-high 29 turnovers by the Eagles led to 30 points for the Blazers. Despite the lopsided score, the Eagles outrebounded the Blazers 43-15. The Eagles also shot nearly 63% from the field on 30 of 48 shooting. Dakota Pratt led the Eagles in scoring with 16. Four players – Pratt (16), Johnson (10), Rose (10), and Thomas (10) – would score in double digits for the Eagles in tonight's ball game.

Asked after the game about his team's performance, Coach Goetsch responded, "Our defense is very poor right now. On offense, we need to be lengthening our possessions so that opponents don't have as many opportunities. We're a long way from seeing success right now, but we will continue to plug away and get better every day."

The Eagles, who fell to 3-16 on the season with the loss, will be back in action on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Arlin R. Horton Sports Center Arena against conference opponent Johnson University of Florida. The game will be livestreamed at pcceagles.com/live.