The Centre College men's basketball team dropped its first game of the season, losing to Maryville College 71-63 in a non-conference game, Tuesday, Nov. 21, in Maryville, Tenn.
The loss drops the Colonels to 2-1 on the year, while Maryville, ranked 23rd in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and playing its first game of the year, improves to 1-0. Centre is now 3-13 against Maryville during the SCAC era, with many of those being tight contests.
Centre led almost the entire first half. A jumper by Maryville's Jeremy Holliday tied the score at 22 apiece with 10:29 left to play in the first period, but the Colonels then went on a 16-2 run to take a 38-24 lead with 3:32 left in the half.
Maryville chipped away prior to the break, using a 10-4 run to pull within 42-34 going into the locker room. Centre shot the ball extremely well in the half making 18 of its 31 (58.1%) shots from the field, while holding Maryville to only 38.2% (13-34) from the floor.
The second half was a different story as the Fighting Scots opened with a 10-1 run to take a 44-43 lead with 12:19 left to play. Following a Matt Jacobson (Lagrange, Ky.) free throw, which tied the game at 44-44, Maryville's Eric Anderson hit a jumper and the Scots would never trail again.
Jacobson later made a free throw to pull Centre within one point at 54-53 with 7:14 on the clock, only to see Maryville use an 8-1 run to push the lead back to nine points, before finishing with an eight-point victory.
After shooting the ball well in the first half, the Colonels shooting was just the opposite in the second as Centre made only five shots from the floor the entire half, three coming from beyond the three-point arc, for an 18.5% (5-27) shooting percentage.
Maryville shot the ball better in the second half making 12 of its 29 (41.4%), and 12 of its 14 (85.7%) free throws. The second half also saw the Colonels turn the ball over 11 times compared to only one for the Fighting Scots.
Bradley Blair led three Maryville players in double figures with 20 points off the bench. Bobby Golden scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and Alex Bowers added 12 points and three steals in the win.
Sophomore forward T.C. Thomason (Russellville, Ky.) continued his strong start to the season, leading Centre with 19 points and six rebounds. Jacobson finished with 11 points and senior center John Patterson (Lexington, Ky.) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Centre will next participate in the Collier Tournament, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25-26, hosted by Hanover College. The Colonels will open against Albion College at 8 p.m. in Hanover, Ind. |
