JACKSON, Miss. – Despite an inauspicious start to the day, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team emerged victorious, 66-56, over host Belhaven (Miss.) University in a non-conference game on Saturday afternoon at Rugg Arena. ETBU goes to 11-4 overall, and Belhaven slips to 2-12 this season.

ETBU won in spite of missing its first 13 shots from the field and trailing 15-0 after seven minutes into the matchup. At halftime, ETBU faced a three-point deficit at 26-23 after shooting 27.6 percent from the floor (eight-of-29). By comparison, Belhaven hit exactly 50.0 percent of its attempts from the field (11-of-22).

In the second half, ETBU improved its shooting and converted 13-of-25 shots from the floor (52.0 percent). Conversely, Belhaven went the other direction, hitting 36.0 percent of its attempts from the field (nine-of-25). Additionally, ETBU converted 14-of-17 free throws in the second half (82.4 percent) and held a 23-to-10 edge in rebounding during the final 20 minutes.

Wilbert Thomas finished with his fourth double-double performance this season for ETBU, totaling team highs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Dylan Augustine contributed 15 points, two assists and two steals, and Jordan Quillian added 10 points, six rebounds and three steals.

For Belhaven, Josh Carpenter had a game-best 28 points to go along with four rebounds. Also in double figures was De'la Mayers, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and four blocked shots.

Trailing by a 26-23 margin at the break, ETBU used an 11-4 run to assume a 34-30 advantage at the 15:18 mark after two free throws by Thomas. Later with the score at 35-33 in favor of ETBU, a 15-4 spurt swelled ETBU's lead to 50-37 following a pair of foul shots by Augustine with 9:49 left in regulation.

Belhaven would bring the game back to within single digits, however, drawing as close as five points with less than four minutes to play at 56-51. But ETBU then closed out the game with 10 of the game's final 15 points to account for the final score.

In its next game, ETBU hosts University of Texas Dallas at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.