Conway, AR - The Hendrix College men's basketball team looked to defend their home court against conference rival Rhodes College. The match-up between the two teams was the first SAA Conference game for both teams of the 2017-18 season.

The Warriors, off to a tough start, entered the game (2-9) overall and are coming off a big win over UT Dallas.

A common theme for the Warriors this season has been their tough play throughout the game an they did exactly that against Rhodes. Rhodes would hold the lead first 9-7 at the 17:37 mark of the first half.

Hendrix mounted a comeback with two straight buckets to get themselves up 20-17.

The hot shooting continued when Kam Brasfield wanted to join the party. Brasfield connected on a three-pointer as Hendrix saw their lead maintained.

With the intensity of this rivalry one should not expect the Lynx to go away quietly. 

With under one-minute remaining in the first half the Warriors saw their lead increase to five. The last possession Rhodes had in first half resulted in a lay-up.

The teams ran into the locker rooms with Hendrix holding a 54-52 lead. Hendrix gained their advantage in large part to their offensive intensity. The Warriors shot a strong 58.3% from the field. Strong defense led to extra possessions for the offense as the team forced four Lynx turnovers.

Marcis Hall led all scorers in the half with 18 points, going 9-12 from the field and having seven rebounds. Helping out in the scoring department was Brasfield and Trey Rouse who contributed 15 and eight points respectively.

Rhodes as a team shot an decent 46.7% from the floor but made eight three-pointers. The team also committed 13 fouls which helped Hendrix get to the free throw line 17 times, making nine of the their attempts.  

Hendrix came out in the second half and maintained the lead they built in the first 20 minutes of play. After a Preston Smith fast break lay-up the lead grew to its largest of the game at eleven.

Rhodes showed signs of life and on multiple occasions and got the lead down to five points but could not get over that hump late in the half as they attempted to mount their comeback.

With just under a minute remaining the Warriors held a nine point lead.

Hendrix's defense didn't allow Rhodes any shot to get back into it and they walked away with a 112-103 win.

"This was a great team win," said Head Coach Thad McCracken. "We had so many guys step up in different ways tonight. Some in ways that just don't show up on a stat sheet. This style really forces the players to go out and make the plays and I couldn't be prouder of how our guys handled it."

The Warriors shot 64.2% from the field.

Brasfield was a constant force in the middle of the Warriors offense leading all scorers with 35 points and seven rebounds. Following Brasfield was Hall who tacked on 29 points to go with two assists. Smith and Rouse each tallied 14 and eleven points respectively.

The Warriors were also led by Jack Eaton with nine points and Sean Criswell and Eric Roberts contributing five each.

Hendrix earned their first conference win on the season and their second straight game in a row. The team saw their record improve to 3-9 overall, 1-0 SAA.  

The Warriors will get two days to recover until they host Oglethorpe on January 5th. Game time is at 8 pm.