BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - After losing their lead late in the second half, the Birmingham-Southern men's basketball team defeated Rhodes in the final game of the regular season to clinch the #2 seed in the SAA Tournament.

The Panthers got off to quite the opposite start from Friday night with a 16-4 lead after a little over seven minutes of action. Rhodes called a timeout to stop the hot start from BSC, but the Panthers kept their foot on the gas and found themselves up 26-7. The home team scored in a variety of ways but found lots of success early driving the ball to the basket mostly from Brandan Copeland, Jay Gillispie, and Brody Davis. The Panthers then slowly kept building on their lead and led by 20 with 3:40 to go in the half after center Brody Davis knocked down both free throws. 'Southern looked to be on their way to a blowout win, but the Lynx battled back and scored 11 unanswered points to close out the half. After a big lead, the Panthers were only up 35-26 at the conclusion of the opening 20 minutes.

The Lynx continued to stay within striking distance coming out of the half, but freshman sharpshooter Kalib Thomas drained a three just before the first media timeout to put the Panthers back up double-digits. BSC then went scoreless over the next three minutes and led only 44-40 with plenty of time still to play. 'Southern seemed to just be holding onto their lead until Rhodes put in a huge three-pointer to take their first lead of the night with 7:53 still to play. With all the momentum on the visitor's side, BSC responded well with a Brandan Copeland three out of the timeout followed by two Jay Gillispie free throws to regain a five-point lead. Both teams then began to trade leads, and Rhodes found themselves up one with 58 seconds remaining hoping ot pull off the upset. On the next possession, Brandan Copeland had a crafty drive to the basket and got the foul to put his team back up two with 38 seconds to go. The Panther defense then came up with a clutch stop followed by two Kaleb Green free throws to go up four. Rhodes knocked down two free throws and forced a 10-second violation to get a chance to tie or win with five seconds left. Needing a stop, the BSC defense came up huge again as the team didn't allow a good look at their basket. The Panthers escaped with a 69-67 win.
 
Records
Birmingham-Southern (15-10) (9-5 SAA), Rhodes (9-15) (3-10 SAA).

Up Next
Birmingham-Southern will play at home in the SAA Tournament Quarterfinals as the #2 seed next Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2:00 p.m. with the opponent TBD.