MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The eighth-seeded Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team trailed just once and never relinquished the lead in a 70-62 victory over ninth-seeded University of Mobile (Ala.) in the opening round of the 2019 SSAC Men's Basketball Championship at the Cramton Bowl.

Dwayne Ward scored a game-high 21 points and tracked down eight rebounds as the RedHawks (12-17) outscored the Rams (10-18) by four points in each half. Ward was a force down low on the defensive end as well as he swatted away five shots and nabbed two steals.

Jordan Olison flanked Ward with 14 points and a team-best three assists. Olison finished 4-of-6 from the floor but was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

As a team, the RedHawks shot 53.7 percent from the floor as the connected on 29-of-54 shots, but limited the Rams to just 35.8 percent from the field.

Big man Tony-Toni Wright led the Rams with 21 points and 14 rebounds, but needed 19 shots to do it.

The win moved the RedHawks to the quarterfinals of the tournament, with a matchup versus top-seeded Stillman (Ala.) set for 2:15 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.