Centre advances to second round of NCAA Championship

RELEASED: March 8, 2008

D3Hoops.com announced that they will provide an audio webcast of the game. Barring technical problems, the webcast will be available at the following link: http://www.d3hoops.com/audio.

DANVILLE, KY— Centre College won the 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 saw the lead change four times and the score tied four times before the end of the half. With eight minutes to play in the first half, junior forward T.C. Thomason dunked 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  finished 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 key in Centre's NCAA first round match-up win, as the Colonels 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 committed 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 three-pointer by Franklin's John Yochum at the 8:54 mark, the Grizzlies had pulled back to within five points. However, Centre never relinquished the lead and ultimately won by 14 points.

Centre advances to play in the second round of the NCAA Championship against Ohio Wesleyan, the winner of the game played prior to the Centre vs Franklin game. The round 2 Championship will be played in Danville, Kentucky on Centre's campus in Alumni Gymnasium, with tip-off at 7:00 pm.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. 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.