SEWANEE, Tenn. - After trailing by 17 at halftime, the Birmingham-Southern men's basketball team climbed all the way back to take the lead but ultimately fell to Sewanee on Sunday afternoon.

In his first collegiate start, freshman Kalib Thomas provided instant offense with the first five points of the game. The Tigers then woke up as the game remained extremely close. With 13:28 left in the opening half, Sewanee tied the game at 13, but freshman Eric Robinson knocked down BSC's fourth three-pointer in the opening few minutes to retake the lead. The visitors kept their three-point margin with 11:37 left in the half, but momentum then swung the other way. The Tigers went on a 12-1 run in almost three and a half minutes to take a 27-19 lead. Sewanee then slowly kept building on their lead and led by a commanding 17 points with 48 seconds left in the half. Martise Jackson put in a bucket for the Panthers with 38 seconds left but two Sewanee free throws stretched the deficit back to 17 before the break to lead, 49-32. The Tigers shot 62% from the field while the Panthers only made 37% of their field goals in the first half.

With a mountain to climb, the Panthers needed to slowly chip away at the deficit they faced. By the first media timeout, Brandan Garrido finished a floater in the paint to cut the Sewanee lead to 55-43. The Tigers scored the first points out of the break, but 'Southern then got hot. Excellent team basketball sparked a 14-2 run over the next six minutes to bring the road team within two with 9:53 remaining. The Panthers couldn't quite complete the comeback until a huge three from senior Tyler Andrews tied the game, 67-67, with five minutes to go. Sewanee went down on the next possession and made both free throws, but BSC's Eric Robinson then hit his second game-changing three of the afternoon. 'Southern's one-point lead late in the second half was the team's first lead since the 10:35 mark in the first half.

BSC would lose their lead but with 2:22 left in the game, Brandan Copeland drained a pair of free throws to tie the score again. However, a 7-0 run over the next minute by the Tigers all but put the game out of reach. Despite trailing, 'Southern didn't give up and cut the deficit to three with 19 seconds left. They then played excellent defense on the inbound pass by Sewanee to force a turnover. Kalib Thomas then made an excellent move to create space and saw his potential game-tying three go in and out. Sewanee then made their free throws to take the win, 82-77.
 
Records
Birmingham-Southern (13-10) (7-5 SAA), Sewanee (10-12) (6-5 SAA).

Up Next
Birmingham-Southern will be back home to face Hendrix on Friday, Feb. 9 in Bill Battle. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.