ATLANTA – Centre men's basketball opened the 2025 Southern Athletic Association slate with another wild finish, as the Colonels knocked off the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels 93-89 in an overtime thriller.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- Both teams struggled from the field in the opening minutes, with
Izayiah Villafuerte leading Centre to an early 9-5 lead with a three-pointer and an and-one.
- The Petrels heated up over the next three minutes, outscoring Centre 12-2 to take their largest lead of the game at 17-11.
- Centre responded with a large run of their own as they scored the next 13 points in a two-minute span, with 12 of them coming from the bench.
Carson Wooldridge made a pair of baskets and
Drake Ingram and
Ryan Shene each made threes during the run to put the Colonels up 23-17 at the halfway point of the half.
- The Colonels maintained the lead for the remainder of the half as
Nolan Wahl and
Jaxson Banks combined to score the next ten Centre points. Oglethorpe kept up the offensive pace over the final ten minutes, but Wahl and Shene each made threes in the final minutes and Centre took a 43-40 lead into the halftime break.
- Centre continued to execute well as the second half began, extending the lead to eight points on a three-pointer from Wooldridge. The Petrels prevented the Colonels from reaching a double-digit lead in the second half, but consecutive threes from Banks made it a 62-54 Centre advantage at the ten-minute mark.
- The Colonels led 67-59 with just over seven minutes remaining before Oglethorpe clamped down, utilizing a 10-2 run to even the score at 69-69 just before the final media timeout. Wooldridge made a pair of clutch free throws to put Centre back on top, but the Petrels answered with two of their own for another tie. After a free throw by Villafuerte, the Colonels got a stop and the sophomore from Bowling Green got to the rack to score, putting Centre on top 74-71.
- Oglethorpe scored the next four points to go up for the first time in the second half. Now trailing by one with a minute to go, Wooldridge crashed the offensive glass, grabbing two huge rebounds to keep possession alive before Villafuerte punctuated it with a three. Centre got another stop and looked to ice the game from the free throw line, but two misses gave Oglethorpe a chance and the Petrels took advantage, rebounding a miss inside for a putback with no time left, tying the score again at 77-77 and sending the game into overtime.
- With momentum now working firmly against them, the Colonels showed great poise in the opening minutes of overtime, scoring the first six points on a Banks free throw and five straight points by
Landen Hamilton, seeing his first game action in a month. Ingram nailed a huge three-pointer with less than three minutes left to extend to a seven-point lead at 86-79 and the Colonels made just enough from the free throw line to ice the game.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- Banks overcame a cold shooting night to lead all players with 21 points while playing 41 grueling minutes. Villafuerte added 17 points, followed by 13 points each from Wahl, Hamilton and Wooldridge,
- Wahl led Centre with 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the year and fifth double digit rebound game of the season.
- The Colonels held a 38-17 edge in bench points with Hamilton and Wooldridge each reaching double figures. Wooldridge's 13 points tied a career high.
- After struggling from the line late in the second half, Centre converted 10-12 free throws in overtime and finished 30-42 for the game, outscoring Oglethorpe by 19 from the charity stripe.
- The three-pointers by Hamilton and Ingram in overtime were the only field goal attempts by Centre in a wild extra session.
NEXT UP
The Colonels will remain in Georgia for the second half of their conference-opening road trip as they travel to Berry on Sunday.
