Trailing by two at the half, the Centre College men's basketball team out-scored Birmingham Southern 45-33 in the second half en-route to a 72-62 win Friday, Feb. 8 in Danville, Ky.

The defenses controlled much of the first half for both teams. Freshman Blake Scinta (Louisville, Ky.) opened the game with a three-pointer and then hit a lay-up to give Centre a 5-2 lead 2:29 into the game.

Zac Richards made a lay-up at the 16:02 mark to make it 5-4, but the next points would not be scored until the 11:56 mark when Schylar Freeman made a lay-up to give the Panthers a 6-5 lead. 

Freshman Holden Hertzel (Cincinnati, Ohio) answered with a lay-up to put the Colonels back in front, but Birmingham Southern scored the next five points to take a 11-7 lead.

Centre responded with an 8-0 run, including a pair of three-pointers by senior Bryon Ellis (Russell Springs, Ky.), and the Colonels led 15-11 with 7:39 remaining in the half. 

After sophomore Chris Taylor (Louisville, Ky.) hit a jumper to give Centre a 24-18 lead, the Panthers finished the half on a 11-3 run to take a 29-27 lead at the break.

Birmingham Southern (15-6 overall, 8-3 SAA) continued to lead early in the second half, but after Larry Thomas made a lay-up for a three-point lead, the Colonels scored 11 unanswered points to take a 43-35 lead with just under 14 minutes to play. 

The Panthers pulled within one at 53-53 at the 6:11 mark, but freshman Tyler Wesley (Crestwood, Ky.) hit back-to-back lay-ups off two Donovan Whiteside (Knoxville, Tenn.) assists and the Colonels went on to finish with the 10-point victory.

Scinta and Ellis continued their strong play with 20 and 18 points respectively. Scinta is now averaging 18.3 points in his last four games, while Ellis has scored 15.5 points in the same four games. 

Wesley also finished in double figures with 12 points and team-high eight rebounds.

Thomas paced Birmingham Southern with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Richards finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in the defeat.

The Colonels, now 16-4 overall and 9-2 in the SAA, will look to cap an undefeated regular season home schedule Sunday, Feb. 10 against Millsaps College. The game will be played as part of Senior Day and is set to start at 3 p.m. in Alumni Gymnasium.