Trailing by two points with less than one minute to play, the Centre College men's basketball team found a way to come back and defeat Hendrix College 72-71 in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) game, Sunday, Feb. 11, in Conway, Ark.
The win improves Centre's overall record to 18-4 and it's SCAC mark to 10-2 tying DePauw University for first place in the league. Hendrix falls to 13-9 overall and 5-7 in conference action.
The game was much closer than the 73-38 Centre win back on January 14 in Danville, Ky. The Colonels jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, but the Warriors climbed within two points (14-12) just past the midway point in the first half.
Centre answered with a 11-2 run to push its lead to 25-14 at the 6:18 mark. Once again Hendrix fought back cutting the lead to four points (33-29) with 0:26 left in the first period. The Warriors stole the ball on the Colonels' next possession and Michael Bertrand hit a three-pointer to end the half and make it a one-point game (33-32) in favor of Centre.
Ahead 52-45 with 9:17 to play in the first half, the Colonels were out-scored 19-5 over the next 5:12 to fall behind 64-57. Centre came back cutting the lead to two points (66-64). Senior forward Matt Jacobson (Lagrange, Ky.) then made a lay-up and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions and the Colonels had a 69-66 lead with less than one minute left.
Two Hendrix free throws made it a one-point Centre lead, but junior guard Matt Nestheide (Edgewood, Ky.) hit three free throws to push the lead back to four points. The Warriors added a three-pointer with time expiring but would run out of time.
Sophomore forward T.C. Thomason (Russellville, Ky.) scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Colonels. Jacobson scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and Nestheide finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He has now scored 1,030 career-points moving him into 22nd place all-time in Centre men's basketball history.
Michael Bennett led four Warriors in double figures with game-highs in points (22) and rebounds (9). Matt Secrease scored 15 points. Andrew King had 12 points and five rebounds and David Foley added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Centre will return home, Friday, Feb. 16 to host Oglethorpe University. The SCAC contest will be played as part of a men's/women's doubleheader and will begin at 8 p.m. in Danville, Ky. |
