The Centre men's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the SCAC after they beat Birmingham Southern 62-45 on Sunday, December 5 in Danville, Ky. The Colonels also improved to 5-1 overall on the season with the win.

Sophomore Josh Crawford (Corbin, Ky.) put the Colonels ahead 2-0 to start the game following a made jumper, but Birmingham Southern would take their first lead of the game on the next possession as Blaise White made a three pointer to make it a 3-2 game with 18:20 on the clock.

The Panthers extended their lead to six points at the 16:14 mark after Jasen Jonus made two free throw attempts to put the score at 8-2.

Centre's offense finally got going with 13:15 to go in the first half, as the Colonels went on a 9-0 run to put them ahead by three point. Junior Greg Ross (Cincinnati, Ohio) made it a 13-10 game after he hit a jumper with 10:56 on the clock.

Birmingham Southern then made the next two baskets to take back the lead at 14-13.

The lead would change one more time, as Centre went on a 7-0 run to go ahead 20-14 with 5:18 to go in the first half. The Colonels built their lead up to double digits with 2:57 on the clock, as Ross made a layup and a free throw attempt to make it a 26-16 game.

Jonus cut the Colonels lead to five points after he made a three point basket with 1:41 on the clock, but Centre went into the break with the 28-21 advantage.

Centre hit 40% of their shots from the floor in the first half and they went 7-8 from the free throw line. The Panthers converted on 26.9% of their shots in the first half and they were perfect from the free throw line hitting all four of their attempts.

Both teams struggled during the opening minutes of the second half. Jonus finally made a three point basket at the 17:50 mark to make it a 28-23 game.

The Panthers kept it close for much of the second half, but the Colonels used a late game run to build up a 20 point lead and to put the game away. Centre went on a 13-0 run from the 4:10 mark until the 1:09 mark, making eight of those points off of free throw attempts.

Centre went on to win the game by a final score of 62-45, after making 43.5% of their shots from the floort during the game and hitting 77.3% of their free throw attempts.

Birmingham Southern struggled from the floor as they hit 26.9% of their shots, while making 86.7% of their free throw attempts.

Ross provided the Colonels with 17 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Senior Alex Lloyd (Versailles, Ky.) also had nine rebounds in the win and sophomore Matt Griggs (Cincinnati, Ohio) had two steals.

Leading the way for Birmingham Southern was Jonus with 13 points and two steals and Griffin Schamp had five rebounds.

Next up for the Colonels will be a game against Asbury College on Thursday, December 16 in Wilmore, Ky. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.