Colonels bring home SCAC championship title and honors

RELEASED: Feb. 27, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—This time last year, the Centre College Colonel's men's basketball team was only seconds away from an SCAC (Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) championship when DePauw University got off a last-hope 60-foot shot to snatch the title from the Colonels. This year's SCAC championship game on Sunday against powerhouse Trinity University went a little differently.

Seconds before the half-time buzzer, junior guard Matt Nestheide sank a 60-foot shot in nearly the exact spot the DePauw player shot his last year. Trinity never got close in the second half. On Monday night, Nestheide's shot was named Play of the Day on the ABC affiliate in Lexington and was featured on the NBC affiliate, as well. Click here to see Nestheide's 60-foot shot.

Having won the SCAC Championship, the Colonels will square off against Capital University on Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in an NCAA first-round game in Wooster, Ohio. This will be the Colonels' first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1992. Centre finished the regular season with its best conference mark (12-2) since the 1991-92 season, and the team produced Centre's second 20-win season in the SCAC era.

Nestheide was selected as SCAC Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Year and head coach Greg Mason was named the league’s Coach-of-the-Year. Senior center John Patterson picked up Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors and first-year forward Danny Noll was named Newcomer-of-the-Year, to complete Centre's sweet of the special recognition awards.

Nestheide finished the regular season ranked ninth in the league in scoring (14.7 ppg) as well as fourth in assists (3.3 apg), ninth in field goal percentage (52.5 percent), third in free throw percentage (84.6 percent), ninth in three-point field goal percentage (40.9 percent) and 10th in ninth in three-point field goals made (45).

Mason, in his eighth year with the Colonels, has a career record of 139-67 (through the end of the 2006-07 regular season), which represents the highest winning percentage (67.5 percent) in school history. It is also the highest winning percentage among all active SCAC men's basketball coaches.

Centre's Patterson ranked fourth in the SCAC in rebounding (7.8 rpg) and was also first in blocked shots (2.1 bpg). Earlier in the season, he was named the 14th Annual John R. Collier Tournament’s top defensive player and the senior post had five games of 10 or more rebounds during the season. Patterson was also an offensive threat for the Colonels, averaging 8.2 points per game and he shot a team-best 58.5 percent from the field.

Noll averaged 6.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game and ranked seventh in the SCAC in three-point field goal percentage at 42.1 percent (24-57). The first-year forward scored in double-figures seven times, mostly off the bench, and made three or more three-pointers three different times.

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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/

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