MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – Brewton-Parker Men's Basketball concluded the third installment of the three-game homestand with their contest against Life (Ga.) in Mount Vernon on Saturday afternoon.

The Barons (8-11, 4-7 SSAC) produced a convincing win over the Running Eagles (13-7, 7-5 SSAC) in Gillis Gym, securing an 82-68 win on the home hardwood.

How It Happened | First Half

Brewton-Parker took the first punch and kept the pressure high early, jumping to a swift 7-2 lead in the opening two minutes of play as Lance Smith and Dre Burroughs produced jumpers in the paint, followed by a trey from Kendall Norrington Jr.

Life responded with a trey and a layup to level the game at seven apiece before BPC jumped back into the lead with scores from Zailan Blue and Burroughs. The Running Eagles leveled the score once again at 11-11 but took a 9-2 run to follow, leading 20-13 with 12:06 on the clock.

Brewton-Parker took nearly four minutes to chip away at the deficit, leveling the game at the 8:43 mark as Justin Boston knocked down a jumper from beyond the arc. Life claimed the lead two more times, once at the 8:16 mark and the 7:32 mark, but the Barons shut them down quickly.

Blue led the Barons with six points followed by three from Burroughs to give BPC a 29-24 lead with 6:57 on the clock. After a trey from Life, Brewton-Parker responded with two more treys from Blue and Burroughs to move to an eight-point advantage with 5:35 remaining.

After a bucket from the Running Eagles at 5:08 and a score from Brewton-Parker at 4:19, scoring was hard to come by for the following few minutes. Life eventually broke the scoring drought to cut their deficit down to six, but the Barons finished the half with a 6-2 stretch as Burroughs and Jordan Johnson knocked down jumpers from deep to seal the half shut with 43-33 lead.

How It Happened | Second Half

Boston opened things up for BPC with Smith following with a layup at the 18:39 mark to move the advantage to 47-34. Life gained six points back with three free throws and a trey to cut the deficit down to seven points with 16:56 to play.

Brewton-Parker returned with three points from the charity stripe from Johnson and one from Damarcus Johnson Jr. to move to a 51-40 lead before Burroughs hit another big three to move to a 14-point edge with 14:06 left.

After a trey from Life, Johnson hit a three followed by a free throw from Johnson Jr. for a 58-43 lead with 12:46 to play. Brewton-Parker began to roll even further down the stretch of the second half, controlling a convincing lead and cushioning it into 20-plus points leading as large as 25 points with 3:01 on the clock.

BPC narrowly edged out Life in the second half with a 39-35 advantage but was able to hold onto a double-figure edge in the final score, winning 82-68. Brewton-Parker went 4-of-9 from beyond the arc in the second half with Norrington Jr. scoring 11 followed by Burroughs with 10.

Inside The Statistics

• BPC shot 44.1% (30-of-68) from the floor, 53.8% (14-of-26) from three, and 57.1% (8-of-14) from the foul line.
• Burroughs led the game with 28 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Norrington Jr. with 14, and Blue with 11.
• Boston also had 11 rebounds in the contest to help lead a 49-36 advantage off the glass.
• Smith finished with a solid 12 assists on the afternoon while scoring seven points.

Next Up

• The Barons will face Stillman (Ala.) on the road in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Jan. 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET.