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Men's Basketball News
Men lose conference title game to Millsaps
Dropping only their second game of the year the Centre College Colonels lose in the title game Sunday, March 2 against Millsaps 60-69. The game was played at Hendrix at 12:00 p.m. CST.
*The following is copied from the Hendrix website*
No. 22 Millsaps upsets No. 2 Centre 69-60
First SCAC men's basketball title for Majors since 2000-01
(Story taken from Millsaps' website)
CONWAY, Ark. - In the championship game of the 2008 SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, No. 22 Millsaps built a 14-point halftime lead with crisp defense and made stops when they needed to late to upset the No. 2 Centre Colonels 69-60 and snap the nation's longest winning streak at 25 games.
In the fourth meeting between the two teams in the six-year history of the SCAC Tournament, Centre entered winning the previous three meetings in 2003, 2006 and 2007 by an average of 8.6 ppg but shot just 20 percent in the opening period to fall behind early and dig themselves into a deep hole that they couldn't pull out of.
Millsaps won the opening tip and senior forward Edrick Montgomery made good of his first two attempts, followed by a Chris Sanders 3-pointer for an early 7-2 lead. Centre fought back to tie the game at 11-11 with 10:15 left in the half, using a Danny Knoll lay up, before the teams traded 3s on each end to make it 14-14.
A 14-0 run for Millsaps over the next 7:16 gave the Majors their largest first half lead of the game at 28-14 before Thomas Britt knocked down a pair of free throws for the Colonels to end the run with just over 2:30 left in the first half.
The teams traded the final 14 points and the Majors headed to the locker room with a 35-21 lead, backed by 12 points from Montgomery and six apiece from Songy and Sanders off a combined 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Centre didn't have a scorer over four points after shooting a dismal 5-of-25 from the floor but connected on 9-of-12 free throws.
Centre opened the second half with the same struggles as the first, missing 12 of its first 14 shots to fall behind by 21 points at the 12:35 mark, 46-25, off another bucket from Millsaps' Montgomery in traffic midway through the second period.
The Colonels got a big 3-pointer from Knoll on the left wing to cap a 9-2 spurt and cut the gap to 14 just minutes later where the score stood at 53-39 with 5:51 remaining.
Another 8-2 run from Centre cut the Millsaps lead to only eight at 55-47 with 3:33 left - the first time the Colonels got within double-digits in the period - before a big 3-pointer from Sanders on the other end pushed the lead back out to 11.
Late free throws for the Majors capped the win as they prevailed 69-60 and locked up the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament beginning next week.
Montgomery led the Majors with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Songy and Sanders chipped in 14 points apiece and Rogan added 11. Matt Nestheide led Centre with 20 points - 16 in the second half - while Knoll added 14 and SCAC Player of the Year Thomas Britt added six on a 1-for-8 shooting day.
At the conclusion of the game the 2008 All-SCAC Tournament Team was announced with Sanders, Rogan and Montgomery taking the honors for Millsaps and Monty being named the Tournament MVP after averaging 21.7 points and 8.3 rebounds and shooting 62 percent from the floor.
Centre aand Millsaps will find out their destiny's tomorrow morning on "Selection Monday" at 11 a.m. SCAC Basketball Tournament website |
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