Men's basketball team wins conference title

RELEASED: Feb. 22, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—Winning its last two games in the regular season, the Centre College men's basketball team accomplished something it has only done twice before in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) history: win the regular season conference championship.

The Colonels, winners of six straight games, and 16 of their last 17, are 20-4 overall and 12-2 in league play, tying them with DePauw University for the regular season championship. The two teams split a pair of games this season with the Tigers, winning 73-67 at home back in December, while Centre earned some payback with a resounding 73-41 win a few weeks ago in Danville, Ky.

Not only are the teams in the SCAC aware of the Colonels success, but people around the country are starting to take notice as well. Following Centre's win over DePauw on Feb. 3, the Colonels received four votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll for the first time this year. After two SCAC road wins this past weekend over Austin College and Hendrix College, the Colonels are now up to 19 votes and are only 23 votes shy of the top 25.

After missing the NCAA Tournament last season on a last-second half-court shot and losing a second team All-American (Reggie Magnusson) and the league's career-leading rebounder (Coy Zerhusen) to graduation, the Colonels were picked to finish third in the SCAC at the beginning of the year and did not receive any first place votes.

Although expectations of Centre around the league weren't as high as those for DePauw and Trinity University, the expectations within the team were exceedingly high, and the Colonels have been out to prove others wrong the entire season.

Centre started a bit slow going only 5-3 in its first eight games, but then caught fire, winning 10 straight, its longest winning streak since 1979. The Colonels dropped a tough road contest to Millsaps College at the end of January, but have won six straight since.

One of the big reasons for Centre's success this year has been defense. Of Centre's 24 games this year, the Colonels have held opponents to 60 points or less 15 times and have not allowed an opponent to score more than 79 points. As of February 18, Centre ranks fourth in the country out of 379 teams in scoring defense allowing an average of 58.0 points per game.

The Colonels are also ranked 11th out of 379 schools in field-goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to an average field goal percentage of 38.6 percent. Only eight opponents have shot above 40 percent on the year and only one has shot above 50 percent.

The 2006-07 season also marks the sixth straight year, Centre has won at least 15 games in a year, tying Rhodes College (1991/92-1994/95) and DePauw (1991/92-1994/95) for the longest such streak in league history.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.