LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. – The Friday night matchup in the 84 Lumber Classic between Centre men's basketball and Covenant was a wild one from beginning to end, with 59 combined fouls, 91 combined free throw attempts and 220 combined points on the board in regulation. In the end, Centre held on for a 112-108 victory.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The Colonels played well in the early stages, keeping up with the Scots' turbo-charged offense.
Ryan Shene buried a pair of three-pointers to start the game to help lift Centre to an early 14-12 lead.
- Covenant slowly began to build a lead halfway through the first half as the pace began to favor the home team. The Scots led between six and eight points for most of the rest of the half, as Centre stayed in the game by living at the free throw line.
- Covenant led by as many as 11 points in the first half, with baskets by
Kalib Thomas and
Landen Hamilton making a 55-47 deficit for the Colonels at the break.
- The momentum stayed with the Scots in the opening minutes of the second half as Covenant scored the first five to extend to a 60-47 advantage, their largest of the game.
- The Colonels still trailed by ten when
Drake Ingram came off the bench to lift the Centre attack, going on a personal 5-0 run as he sank a pair of technical free throws, immediately followed by a three. Following a turnover, Shene broke away for a layup to make it 72-69. Another Centre steal led to a jumper from Thomas to cap off a 9-0 run for the Colonels.
- After Shene completed the comeback with a tying three-pointer to make it a 74-74 game, Ingram put Centre on top for the first time since the 14-minute mark in the first half with a jumper. From there, the lead went back and forth, with the next run going to the Scots, who pulled ahead to an 85-80 advantage with just under nine minutes left.
- Centre responded with eight points in a row over the next 78 seconds as Ingram and Shene assisted on each other's baskets to make it 88-85 in favor of the Colonels.
- The two teams traded baskets and free throws until it was tied at 93-93 with 4:30 left. Again it was Shene who came up clutch, connecting on another three to put Centre back on top. The Scots cut the deficit to two points twice in the next two minutes, but each time the Colonels had an answer, once from Ingram and once from Shene as both sophomores enjoyed the finest nights of their collegiate careers.
- A turnover and some misses at the free throw line gave Covenant possession down 108-107 with 19 seconds left. The Scots drew a foul with six seconds to go, but missed both free throws for the tie and the lead. Fittingly, it was Ingram who nailed down the final margin with four consecutive free throws in the final five seconds.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ingram led all players with a career high 31 points off the bench, going 8-13 from the field and 11-14 from the line as Centre enjoyed a 44-33 advantage in bench points.
- Shene also finished with a career high as he had the first 30-point game of his career on 10-13 shooting, including 6-9 from the free throw line.
- Two Centre players finished with double-doubles. Hamilton scored 13 points and tied his career high with ten assists, while
Riley Mastin scored ten points and pulled down ten boards for his second double-double of the year.
- After shooting 37 percent from the field and 17 percent from long range in the first half, Centre burned the nets in the second half for 63 percent shooting (20-32), including 73 percent (8-11) from three-points range and 65 points.
- Centre's 112 points were the most scored by the Colonels in regulation since scoring 132 points against Greenville to open the 2019-20 season.
NEXT UP
Centre will wrap up the 84 Lumber Classic on Saturday afternoon when they face LeTourneau.
