For the second time this season, the Centre College men's basketball team defeated Berea College, winning this time 72-55 in a non-conference match, Tuesday, Nov. 28, in Danville, Ky.
The Colonels, which defeated the Mountaineers 82-66 in their second game of the season, have now won two-straight and improve to 4-2. With the loss, Berea falls to 4-6 on the year.
Berea jumped out to an early 14-7 lead with 14:27 on the clock, only to see Centre go on a 14-2 run to take a 21-16 lead midway through the first period. Five different Colonels scored at least two points during the run to put Centre ahead by five point.
The Mountaineers closed the gap scoring the next four points to pull within one points, but the Colonels answered again, this time with a 9-2 run to push the lead to eight points with just under five minutes left. Berea hit two three-pointers near the end of the half to cut the lead to 37-34 at the half.
The score remained close in the early minutes of the second half. With Centre leading 45-40 at the 13:38 mark in the second half, the Colonels began to pull away using a 10-2 run to take a 55-42 lead midway through the second period.
Centre pushed the lead to as many as 18 points before finishing with a 17-point victory. The Colonels shot 50.0% (29-58) from the floor for the game, while limiting Berea to only 39.6% (19-48), including 26.1% (6-23) in the second half.
Centre also dominated on the boards. The Mountaineers entered the contest with a +13.4 rebounding margin, but were out rebounded 42-24, including a 13-5 edge on the offensive end.
Senior forward Matt Jacobson (Lagrange, Ky.) led all scorers with 20 points with 14 of those coming in the first half. Jacobson also finished with six rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes of action.
Junior guard Matt Nestheide (Edgewood, Ky.) scored 12 points with eight assists and five steals and freshman Danny Noll (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) added 13 points and four rebounds off the bench. Senior center John Patterson (Lexington, Ky.) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for his fourth double-digit rebounding effort of the season.
Melvin Brown led three Mountaineers in double figures with 15 points. Mikah Turner scored 13 points and Thomas Klimas added 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Centre will begin its 2006-07 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference season, Saturday, Dec. 2, when it travels to Greencastle, Ind. to play DePauw University. The game will be played as part of a men's/women's doubleheader and will start at 3 p.m. |
