Box Score ROME, Ga. – The Spring Hill College men's basketball team opened their inaugural season in NCAA Division II with an 83-67 loss to the Shorter University Hawks at the Winthrop-King Centre on Friday night.

The Hawks (1-0) took 3-0 lead but sophomore center Dejan Stefanovic from Serbia tied the game with a trey as the Badgers hit their first four 3-point shots to take a 12-5 advantage in the early going. Shorter rallied to take a 15-14 game at the 11:35 mark, but the teams then traded buckets over the next three minutes as Shorter held a 21-19 lead at 9:10 in the 1st half and a 40-26 lead at halftime.

With 11:30 remaining in the contest, the Shorter lead had grown to 61-37. SHC cut it to a 71-59 deficit with under four minutes to play, but could not draw any closer.

Freshman Walter Massey, Jr. of Eight Mile, Ala., had 16 points while senior Robert Drummond of Fairhope, Ala., added 12 points to pace the Badgers who shot 49.1% (27-55) from the field and 31.6% (6-19) from 3-point distance. SHC out-rebounded Shorter 36-29 on the night.

Spring Hill (0-1) will remain in Rome to play the Bulldogs (1-0) of Union University (Tenn.) at 6 p.m. on Saturday as part of the final day of the annual Shorter Classic in the Winthrop-King Centre.