Stillman Athletics
Chris Megginson
BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – Trey Petty and Devin Merriweather combined for more than two-thirds of Stillman College’s points Saturday evening to lead the Tigers to their sixth-straight win, 90-74, at Blue Mountain College.
The Petty-Merriweather-Petty Show produced the first 11 points of the game, as Merrweather dished four of his 10 assists to Petty. Six of Merriweather’s assists led to Petty baskets, including five of Petty’s seven 3-pointers.
Petty, who was named the NAIA Player of the Week on Jan. 12, led all players with 35 points and nine rebounds. Merriweather scored a career-high 29 points to go with his 10 assists for a double-double. Petty averaged 22.7 points through three games this week, and Merriweather averaged 20.3 points and seven assists during the week.
Blue Mountain’s only lead of the day came on a pair of Aleksa Vujadinovic free throws on the Toppers’ second possession. The Toppers kept it a two-possession game for the first 16 minutes of play until Stillman put together a 7-0 run to take an 11-point lead, 48-37, on a pair of Petty free throws. Stillman led 52-40 at the half.
Stillman’s largest lead was 21 points, 79-58, following a Roger Davis basket with 9:57 left in the second half.
Merriweather shot 60% from the floor (9-of-15), including 1-of-2 from 3-point range, and made all 10 free throw attempts. Petty ‘s 35 points came on 10-of-12 free throws and 56.3% shooting from the floor, including 63.6% (7-of-11) from 3-point.
Ladarius Carter added 10 points, followed by seven from Derrick Finklea.
Stillman out-rebounded Blue Mountain, 45-28, with nine Tiger players grabbing rebounds.
Brandon Williams added to the high-scoring night, leading Blue Mountain with 26 points. Vujadinovic finished with 13 points.
Stillman (6-0, 5-0 SSAC West) will return to continue its road swing in the Southern States Athletic Conference West Division with a trip to New Orleans next weekend, Jan. 22-23. The Tigers will play at No. 5 Loyola University for a battle for the SSAC West lead. Tip times are 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.