Sou'wester

Issue date: 1/28/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Noelle Smith The basketball team practices in preparation for games against Hendrix and Millsap this weekend.

After a string of eight straight losses, the Rhodes men's basketball team got back to their winning ways this Sunday with a hard-fought 86-75 victory over Austin College. The victory is the team's first conference win of the season and improves their record to 7-10 overall.

Senior guard Cory Smith led the way for the Lynx with 24 points, while freshman forward Kory Kilpatrick logged a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Nathan Ollie and junior forward Reid Hamilton both reached double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively.

After getting off to a slow start and falling behind by six, the Lynx went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take their first lead of the game. Another solid run and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Hamilton pushed Rhodes' lead to eight going into halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, the Lynx quickly jumped out to a 50-32 lead. Austin responded with a 10-2 run to pull within striking distance. Rhodes, however, had a response of its own as the team went on a quick scoring run to stretch the lead out to 65-46 with just over nine minutes remaining.

The Kangaroos pushed the Lynx to the brink over the next five minutes with a 22-4 run that closed the lead to only two points. Refusing to panic, Rhodes put together one final scoring run, capped off by a Cory Smith dunk that gave the Lynx a nine-point lead with 30 seconds remaining. The team knocked down its free-throws down the stretch to secure the win.

The Lynx found success in several areas on Sunday afternoon. They outrebounded the 'Roos 46-33 despite turning the ball over 23 times, and held Austin to 35 percent shooting from the field. The team also connected on 10 of 19 three-point attempts and went a solid 26 for 33 from the free-throw line, including 14 of 17 by Smith.

The victory was especially welcome following three consecutive close losses, the latest of which came in the closing seconds of overtime at Colorado College. Last weekend, the Lynx had fallen just two points shy of beating Southwestern and six points of nationally ranked Trinity.

Now with a conference win under their belts the Lynx will look to rack up two more this weekend as they host Hendrix on Friday night and Millsaps on Sunday afternoon.

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