Blue Lights got on the board first Monday night in Newport News, Virginia, and went toe-to-toe with nationally ranked Stratford, but the Cardinals dominated the glass and overmatched the Thoroughbreds for a 100-83 win.
A Jorge Garcia 3-pointer opened the scoring and the Herd held its own in the opening minutes, leading 12-11 after two free throws by Mike Maxwell with 16:17 to play in the first half.
Then the Cards (19-4) showed why they are among the top teams in the USCAA, exploding for a 15-0 run over the next six minutes and pulling away for a 57-32 halftime advantage. SU would continue to pull away in the first 11 minutes of the second half, turning a 37-5 advantage on the offensive boards into 33 second-chance points to lead by as many as 35, 84-49 with 9:39 to play.
But BLC (8-9) was not going away just yet. The Lights came on in the final minutes, outscoring Stratford 34-16 over the last nine minutes and actually "winning" the second half 51-43.
"Man, we really played our hearts out in the second half," said interim head coach Mario Pharr. "I'm definitely proud of the effort and resilience we showed in the game with never giving up!"
Garcia led the Herd with 22 points on 9-12 shooting and 4-5 from 3-point range. Domo Hunter added 18, Rich Campbell had 15, and Darian Williams came off the bench with 11.
Stratford's Ron Davis led all scorers with 26.
Blue Lights returns to Hope Community Church for "Senior Night" on Tuesday when the Thoroughbreds host Appalachian Bible College at 6:00 pm. The game will also be livestreamed on the Blue Lights Thoroughbreds channel on YouTube and on bluelightsthoroughbreds.com
