The Centre men's basketball team bounced back from an opening night loss in the Thomas More Classic to defeat Cincinnati Christian 84-73 on Tuesday in Crestview Hills, Ky.

Josh Karsner (Frankfort, Ky.) led the way for the Colonels with 25 points and eight rebounds while going 14-of-15 from the free throw line. With Centre holding on to a five point lead, Karsner was 8-of-8 from the line in the final minute to help put the game away.

Collin Lopez (Louisville, Ky.) chipped in 17 points for the Colonels while Donovan Whiteside (Knoxville, Tenn.) added 12 and Tyler Wesley (Crestwood, Ky.) 10. DJ McCommons and Willie McKinney each had 15 points to lead Cincinnati Christian.

The Colonels jumped out to an early lead when Lopez made three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game. Centre led by as many as 10 points in the half after another Lopez 3-pointer at the 3:39 mark, then took a 42-38 lead to halftime.

Cincinnati Christian continued to cut into the margin early in the second half, eventually tying the score at 47 on a layup by Mike Hill at the 15 minute mark. Matt Gump (Bellefontaine, Ohio) and Whiteside combined to hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to send Centre on a 9-2 run, but the Eagles answered with an 11-2 surge of their own to go up 62-60 with less than eight minutes to play.

With five minutes to play and the Centre trailing 67-65, the Colonels nine consecutive points over a three minute span to pull ahead. Karsner capped the run with a 3-pointer and made the late free throws to score 11 of Centre's final 13 points.

The Colonels shot 52 percent (23-of-44) from the field and a blistering 61 percent (11-of-18) from outside, compared with Cincinnati Christian's 41 percent overall (25-of-61) and from 3-point range (9-of-22). 

Centre improves to 7-3 while Cincinnati Christian drops to 10-4. The Colonels open Southern Athletic Association play when they host Sewanee on Saturday at 3 p.m.