Box Score The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team opened the 2015-2016 season with an 89-74 non-conference home loss to the Shorter University Hawks at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on Friday night.

The Hawks (1-0) trailed the Badgers 44-39 at the halftime intermission, but Shorter rallied early in the second half and took a lead of 55-53 at 14:47 off a layup by Cole Birchfield. From there, the teams stayed within two points of each other until the final five minutes of play when Shorter grabbed a late nine-point lead at 3:49 and never looked back.

Spring Hill was paced by redshirt freshman guard Sawyer Glick's 27 points while sophomore Walter Massey turned in a double-double performance with 13 points and 17 rebounds. As a team, SHC knocked down 46.2% (30-65) of their shots, including 42.1% (8-19) of their 3-point attempts. The Badger dominated the boards 43 to 28, but the difference in the game came in turnovers where SHC suffered 20 fumbles versus seven Shorter steals and took away just eight Hawk turnovers with two steals.

At the charity stripe, Shorter benefited from a 23-for-35 (65.7%) night while SHC made just six of its 12 (50%) free throws.

Shorter's Phil Taylor lead all scorers with 36 points while Birchfield and Alijah Bennett each had 13 points and Chris Daniels added 12 points. Overall, the Hawks were 54.9% (28-51) from the floor and 62.5% (10-16) from behind the 3-point arc.

The Badgers (0-1) will host the Union University (Tenn.) Bulldogs (1-0) in a non-conference game on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center. Last season, SHC fell to the Bulldogs 75-60 in a neutral site contest in Rome, Ga.