The Centre men's basketball team is currently on a five game winning streak after they beat conference opponent Austin College 87-52 at home on Friday, January 28 in Danville, Ky. The Colonels improved to 14-3 on the season and to 9-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Freshman Donovan Whiteside (Knoxville, Tenn.) began the game by making a layup to put the Colonels ahead 2-0.

Scott Straley responded by giving the Kangaroos their only lead of the game after he converted on a layup and a free throw attempt to put the score at 3-2 with 18:54 to go in the first half.

Whiteside then hit a three pointer to put the Colonels back ahead 5-3, but Austin would tie the game at five all when Walter Phillips knocked down a jumper with 18:03 on the clock.

Both teams would hit a three pointer and a jumper to tie the game up for the fourth time at 10-10.

The Colonels built up a nine point lead after going on a six point run mid way through the first half to take the 24-15 advantage.

Josh Saunders hit a jumper and made a free throw shot with 9:03 to go in the first half to cut the Centre lead down to six points, but Centre went on another six point run to extend their lead to 12 points, as they led 30-18 with 6:00 remaining before the break.

Centre took their largest lead of the first half into the break, as Whiteside hit a jumper as time expired to put the score at 44-21.

During the first half of action Centre shot 57.7% from the floor and 83.3% from the free throw line, while Austin converted on 30.4% of their shots and 77.8% of their free throw attempts.

Junior Greg Ross (Cincinnati, Ohio) opened up the second half by getting fouled and making both of his free throw attempts to put the Colonels up by 25 points.

Austin would miss their first shot attempt of the second half and Centre made them pay on the other end of the court as junior Jeff Mullaney (Louisville, Ky.) was fouled on a three point attempt. He made all three of his his shots from the foul line to put the score at 49-21 with 19:15 to go in the game.

Centre built up a 32 point lead with 10:30 on the clock, but Austin wouldn't give up as they cut the lead down to 22 points after going on a five point run.

Freshman Matt Lohr (Louisville, Ky.) scored the Colonels final four points of the game to give the team their largest lead of the night at 38 points, 87-49, with 29 seconds on the clock.

Austin scored the final basket of the game on a Justin Battley three pointer with 17 seconds to go to put the final score at 87-52.

The Colonels finished the game making 52.6% of their shots from the floor and 87% of their free throw attempts. Austin hit 33.3% of their shots from the floor and 70.8% of their shots from the foul line.

Ross led the Colonels in scoring with 18 points on the night. Senior Alex Lloyd (Versailles, Ky.) had nine rebounds, two blocked shots, and two steals in the win. Whiteside also picked up two steals for the Colonels. Mullaney recorded four assists.

Walter Phillips had 16 points for the Kangaroos and Saunders grabbed six rebounds. Straley posted four steals in the game.

Next up for the Colonels will be a home game against conference opponent Colorado College on Sunday, January 30 at 1:00 p.m. in Danville, Ky.