February 1, 2008

JACKSON – Senior forward Edrick Montgomery recorded the 24th double-double of his career by halftime, finishing with 31 points and 15 rebounds, and Millsaps overcame missing its first 10 shots of the ballgame to run away with a 93-72 win over visiting Rhodes.

With the game producing a combined 48 fouls split right down the middle, the entire game it seemed was spent at the charity stripe. The Lynx connected on 30-of-36 free throws for a solid 83 percent, while the Majors hit 24-of-31 for 77 percent including 11-of-12 from Monty.

Millsaps (16-3, 8-2 SCAC West) broke open a tie game, 26-26, in the first half at the 4:40 mark, putting together a 22-7 run on the heels of a Lorenzo Bailey 3-pointer, to head into intermission with a comfortable 48-33 lead.

After missing its first 10 shots of the game and 16 of its first 19 (15.7 percent), Millsaps closed the half by knocking down 15-of-24 attempts to finish at 42 percent for the period.

The Majors pushed their lead out to as many as 20 midway through the second half and led 65-49 at the 12:15 mark before Rhodes (7-12, 2-7 SCAC East) mounted a 12-4 run, capped off by a high-rising dunk from Cory Smith, that cut the lead down to eight at 69-61.

After a timeout from fifth-year head coach Tim Wise, the Majors pushed their lead back out to double digits and never let the Lynx get to within 15 the final 5:11 of the contest.

Millsaps won the rebounding battle with a 43-34 edge, but more importantly, converted on 21 second chance points (13 offensive boards) to the Lynx's zero.

As good as advertised for Rhodes, Smith hit his season average (19.6 ppg) with 14 second half points to finish with a team-high 21 points, while Jared Hoskins added 13 and Reid Hamilton added 10.

For the Majors, who have now won 11-straight home games dating back to last season, four scorers reached double figures including Montgomery who hit a career-high 11 free throws to post his third-straight 20+ point game.

Bailey finished with 21 points off five 3s while Rodney Rogan added 12 points and eight rebounds to give him 501 for his career and Chris Sanders had 11.

Millsaps will continue an important four-game homestand on Sunday at the Hangar Dome, playing host to SCAC-provisional member Birmingham-Southern. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.