Men's Basketball News
Centre advances to second round of NCAA Championship
DANVILLE, Ky - Centre College wins first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship against Franklin College 75-61. The game was played on the campus of Centre College on Friday March 7.
 A strong defensive first half by both teams sees the lead change four times and the core tied four times before the end of the half. With 8:00 minutes to play in the first half junior forward T.C. Thomason dunks a rebound off a missed jumper by senior guard Thomas Britt to put Centre ahead 18-16. This would be the last lead change of the game.
Centre would finish the half shooting 59.1% from the field over all and 60% from long range. Franklin shot 31% from the field and 30% from long range. Shooting percentage would remain the main reason for Centre's win in the NCAA first round match-up as they shot 60% overall in the second half while Franklin shot 36.4% from the field during the second half.
The Grizzlies did out rebound the Colonels 34 to 28, and caused fewer turnovers with only nine compared to Centre's 13.
Even though the Colonels never gave up their half-time lead of 34-27, Franklin threatened to close the gap on several occasions. After a made three-pointer by Franklin's John Yochum at the 8:54 mark the Grizzly's had pulled back to within five points. However, Centre never relinquished the lead and would end up winning by 14 points.
Centre advances to play in the second round of the NCAA Championship against Ohio Wesleyan; the winner of the first game which was played prior to the Centre vs Franklin game. The game will be played in Danville, KY on Centre's campus Alumni gym with game time set to start at 7:00 pm.
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