ATLANTA, Ga. -- The Methodist men's basketball team won its sixth straight game and moved to 7-5 overall with a 77-66 win over Sewanee at Oglethorpe University on Friday afternoon.
 
Davion Ayabarreno and Rae Hall each scored 21 points to lead the Monarchs, and Jackson Whitley added a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. The seven wins for the Green and Gold match last season's final win total of seven.
 
Brody Stone led the Tigers (6-4) with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Jorden Williams and Clay Born scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.
 
A back and forth contest in the first half turned in MU's favor midway through the period. Trailing 21-20 with 10:42 showing on the clock, the Monarchs used a 19-10 run to take a 39-31 lead with 1:24 to play en route to a 40-33 lead at halftime.
 
In the second half, the Monarchs' lead reached as many as 19 points (61-42) just under the midway point. The Tigers had one final push, pulling to within nine points (69-60) by the 3:32 mark. Following the media timeout with 2:51 to play, Whitley responded with a dunk and then added a pair of free throws to move MU's lead back to 13 points and the Monarchs coasted from there.
 
Methodist shot better than 50.0 percent for the second consecutive game, hitting on 29 of 57 shots from the floor, including 8 of 16 three pointers. MU also hit 11 of 13 free-throw attempts (.846). Sewanee shot 41.0 percent (25-61) from the floor. Each team turned the ball over 11 times and MU had a slim 32-31 edge in rebounding.
 
Ayabarreno shot 9 of 13 from the floor and Hall was 8 of 13 as both players proved highly efficient. Whitley was 5 of 9 from the field and 5 of 5 from the line.
 
Methodist will resume play in 2017 on Jan. 7 at Averett beginning at 2:00 pm.