Brumbelow

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - No. 4-seed Hendrix fell to top-seed and No. 12-ranked Berry (Ga.), 64-63, in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament semifinals Friday at the Cage Center. The Vikings have won six-straight overall and improved to 7-0 at home this year.

Hendrix (6-5) led for more than 39 minutes of the game and built an 18-point advantage in the first half, using a 20-4 run that lasted 9:01. A Sean Coman trey made the score 32-14 at the 3:35 mark, and the Warriors led 32-20 at intermission.

Seth Stanley canned a 3-pointer to keep Hendrix's lead at double digits, 57-47, with 5:01 to go, but Berry (12-1) countered with a 15-4 spurt and took its first lead since 2-0 after a Chase Ellis bucket from deep with 47 seconds on the clock. A Carl Fitch layup 19 seconds later put the Warriors back in front, 63-61, but an Ellis layup with 13 seconds on the clock proved to be the difference. A Warriors shot with 1.7 seconds to play rimmed in and out.

Ellis ended with 21 points off the bench on 5-of-5 shooting and a 10-of-12 clip from the free throw line. Rob Mbenoun had a double-double off the bench with 12 points, going 5-of-8 inside the arc, and 10 rebounds. Michael Johnson scored 11 points.

Berry shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) overall but just 1-of-11 from 3-point range and 15-of-25 from the stripe.

Stanley tallied 16 points and was 7-of-8 from the line. Jackson Parks added 11 points.

Stanley and Parks each had five boards.

Damecko Johnson scored 10 points off the bench in his final game with the Orange and Black. He was 4-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep. Coman and Alex Conrad each hauled in six rebounds.

Hendrix shot 40.4 percent (21-of-52) overall, 36.8 percent (7-of-19) from 3 and 14-of-19 from the foul line.