Men's Basketball News
Men's basketball team rolls to 77-53 win for 11th win
After falling behind by 10 points early in the first half, the Centre College men's basketball team came on strong to lead by 14 at the half on its way to a 77-53 win over Birmingham Southern College in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) contest Friday, Jan. 11 in Birmingham, Ala.
With the win, the Colonels improve to 11-1 overall, while the Panthers fall to 7-5 on the season. The game will not count toward the conference standings because Birmingham Southern is in the first year of its four-year provisional transition from Division I to Division III.
The Panthers opened the game making seven of its first eight shots to take a 16-6 lead less than five minutes into the first half. The Colonels answered with a run of their own scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a 19-18 lead.
Birmingham Southern's Mark Messenger hit a lay up to put the Panthers back in front by one point, but that was their last lead of the game. Leading by three-points (31-28) with 3:21 left to play in the half, Centre used a 15-4 run to close the half and take a 46-32 lead into the locker room.
The lead continued to grow in the second half as the Colonels pushed the lead to as many as 26 points (69-43) before finishing with the 24-point road victory.
Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the first half with Centre making 19 of its 29 shots (65.5%) and Birmingham Southern connecting on 14 of its 24 (58.3) attempts. The Colonels finished the game shooting a season-best 59.6% (31-52) from the field, while the Panthers were limited to 30.4% (7-23) in the second half to finish the game at 44.7% (21-47).
Centre turned the ball over five more times (21-16) than Birmingham Southern but out rebounded the Panthers 37-15.
Senior guard Matt Nestheide (Edgewood, Ky.) led four Colonels in double figures with 15 points. Junior guard T.C. Thomason (Russellville, Ky.) had 13 points and senior guard Thomas Britt (Louisville, Ky.) and junior guard Ryan Crowdis (Louisville, Ky.) added 10 points apiece.
Messenger scored 15 points to lead Birmingham Southern on the night. Daniel Hudson was the only other Panther to finish in double figures scoring 10 points in the loss.
Up next for Centre is a trip to Memphis, Tenn. to play Rhodes College. The SCAC contest will be played as part of a men's/women's doubleheader and will begin at 3 p.m. CST. |
